LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

— __ 

Chap, Copyright No. 



Shell.... 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 





COMING TO 
CHRIST 

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. 










Copyrighted by Henry Altemus, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, on June jq, i8q7, in the One Hundred and Twenty-first Year 
of the Independence of the United States of America. 



Henry Altemus, Manufacturer, 
philadelphia. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



CONTENTS 



Biographical Sketch of the Author, 

The Giver of the Invitation, 

What is ' Coming?' 

All Things are Ready, 

JNow, . 

Coming into the Ark, 

Drawn into the Ark, 

Coming for Rest, . 

Want of Will, 

The Call of the Spirit, 

Come and See, 

The Safe Venture, . 

Coming Boldly, 

A Hindrance, 

The Entreaty to Come, 

The Command to Come, 

Royal Largesse, 

Tarry Not, 

Without Christ, 

Come Away, . 

Coming after Jesus, 

Coming with Jesus, 

The Living Water, 

The Bread and Wine, 

Will You Xot Come ? 

Come Xear, . 

To the Uttermost, . 

The Proof of Christ's Ability to Save, 



m 

7 
10 

12 
15 
17 
21 

24 
27 

3° 
33 
37 
40 

43 
46 

49 
52 
55 
5S 
62 

65 
68 

7i 
74 
77 
78 
81 

33 



CONTENTS. 



Continual Coming, 

Fellowship and Cleansing, 

The Perpetual Covenant, 

The Consummation of the Invitation, 

The Source of the Kingship, 

The Promise of the King, . 

Allegiance to the King, 

Decision for the King, . 

The First to Meet the King, . 

The Condescension of the King, . 

The Indwelling of the King, 

Full Satisfaction in the King, 

The Sorrow of the King, 

Going Forth with the King, 

The Smiting of the King, 

The Kinship of the King, 

The Desire of the King, 

The Sceptre of the King, 

Cleaving to the King, . 

The Joy of the King, 

Rest on the Word of the King, 

The Business of the King, 

The Readiness of the King's Servants, 

The Friendship of the King, 

The Light of the King's Countenance, 

The Tenderness of the King, 

The Token of the King's Grace, . 

The Omniscience of the King, 

The Power of the King's Word, . 

The Name of the King, 

Working with the King, 

The Recompense of the King, 

The Salvation of the King, . 

Good Tidings to the King's Household, 

The Prosperity of the King, . 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL 



A GENTLE SPIRIT, a temperament alive to 
all innocent joys, to all the harmonies of life 
and literature, a deep and earnest faith, a loving 
self-surrender to the Saviour who was the object of 
that faith — these are the qualities which make 
Frances Ridley Havergal a character of exceptional 
interest, not only to professing Christians, but to all 
who recognize and revere the spirit of the Gospel 
teachings. For having the gift of expression — a 
simple and pellucid style through which the soul 
poured itself out in either prose or verse — the qual- 
ities which endeared her to the friends who knew 
her in person won her a world-wide circle of friends 
among those who only knew her through her pub- 
lished writings. 

Miss Havergal was born December 14th, 1836, 
and died June 3d, 1879. She was the daughter of 
Rev. William Henry Havergal, famous as a writer 
of sacred music. The story of her life, as revealed 

(iii) 



iv asto^rapbical Sketch of 

to us in the " Memorials n edited by her sister in 
1880 seems uneventful enough in incident. Its land- 
marks are two heavy bereavements, and the changes 
in outward circumstances ensuing therefrom. One 
might think that the first of these epoch-marking 
bereavements was the death of her mother, which 
occurred in 1848. Yet Frances herself confesses 
that this event " did not make at first the impres- 
sion upon me which might have been expected/ ' 
We must not take her too literally, however. It is 
undoubtedly from this period that we may roughly 
date the kindling of that intense religious enthusi- 
asm which burns in all her life and poetry, and 
which remained unquenched to the last. At the 
same time, the first poignant and crushing grief 
that she experienced was the sudden death of her 
father at Easter, 1870. His widow (for he had 
married a second time) continued to live at Lea- 
mington with the daughters; and the main support 
of the family devolved upon Frances, who had 
already won wide fame as a hymn-writer. In 1878 
the death of Mrs. Havergal broke up the little 
circle, and Frances, with her sister Maria, afterwards 
her biographer, removed from Leamington into 
Wales, but she outlived her beloved second mother 
only a little over a year. 

This life — tranquil as it seems on the surface— 
was disturbed in its inner depths by many conflict* 
ing currents of religious feeling. "I am quits 
sure," she tells us in her Autobiography, *<thai 
nothing in the way of earthly and external trials 
could have been to me what the inner darkest, and 
strife and utter weariness of spirit, th,o«%ri Ham 



Jfrances IRtoleE Daver^aL v 

greater part of these years, have been. Many have 
thought mine a comparatively thornless path ; but 
often when the path was smoothest, there were hid- 
den thorns within, and wounds bleeding and rank • 
ling/' Evidently she had, in a less morbid degree, 
that extreme sensitiveness of conscience which 
drove Cowper mad. Through a life of the utmost 
purity and even sanctity, a life devoted to good 
works, to philanthropical endeavors of all sorts, she 
was disturbed by the sense of continual back-slid- 
ings. "I remember/ ' she tells us again, "1 
remember longing to be able to say 'O God, my 
heart is fixed ' in bitter mourning over its weakness 
and wavering." 

It is pleasant to know that these dark shadows 
were eventually lifted. In her maturer years the 
early disquiet was succeeded by a calm trust and 
confidence, thus faithfully mirrored in the prelude 
to "Under His Shadow." 

So now, I pray Thee, keep my hand in Thine 
And guide it as Thou wilt. I do not ask 

To understand the "wherefore " of each line : 
Mine is the sweeter, easier, happier task 

Just to look up to Thee for every word, 

Rest in thy love and trust and know that I am heard. 

Miss Havergal's verses were collected and reissued 
in two volumes in 1884. But hitherto her prose 
writings have been strangely neglected by publishers. 

In these prose writings, even more than in her 
poems, Miss Havergal has shown us her best and 
truest self. Simple and direct as they are in method, 
they go straight from the heart to the heart. The 
author's tenderness, reverence and humility, he* 



<* JBfo^rapbfcal Sftetcb* 

irdent love for her Lord and for her neighbor are 
all reflected in her prose. Independently of their 
religious value, these writings have a distinct liter- 
ary interest as revealing the inner workings of a 
unique and winning personality. It is no wonder 
that in this country alone they have sold to the ex- 
tent of some half a million copies. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 
FIRST DAY. 






Zbe Giver of the flnvitation. 

* Come unto Me. 7 — Matt. xi. 28. 

THIS is the Royal Invitation. For it is given 
by the King of kings. We are so familiar 
with the words, that we fail to realize them. May 
the Holy Spirit open our ear that we may hear the 
voice of our King in them, 1 and that they may 
reach our souls with imperative power. 2 Then, 
1 they shall know in that day that I am He that 
doth speak.' 3 

' Lord, to whom shall we go ? u Not 'to what 
shall we go.' For the human heart within us craves 
a personal, living rest and refuge. No doctrines, 
however true ; no systems, however perfect ; noth- 
ing mental, moral, or spiritual, will do as the 
answer to this question of every soul that is not 
absolutely dead in trespasses and sins. 5 As surely 
as you and I are persons, individualities, real sep- 
arate existences, so surely must we have a Person, 
no less real and individual, to whom to go in our 
more or less conscious need of salvation. And so 

1 John x. 27. 2 j Thess. i. 5. 3 Isa. lii. 6. 

* John vi. 68, & Eph. ii. 1. 



3 COMING TO CHRIST. 

the great word of Invitation, Royal and Divine, 
is given to us, ' Come unto Me ! ' 

' Unto Me. 1 Just think what that one word 
means ! Seek out all the great and wonderful 
titles of Christ for yourself, and write after each 
one — 'And He says, Come unto Me! 1 Unto 
Me, 'the mighty God,' 1 nothing less than that! 
'Mighty to save ' 2 and ' ready to save me.' 3 

Then seek out all the exquisitely winning 
beauties of the character and words and ways of 
Him who went about doing good, 4 till you ' have 
heard Him and observed Him ,5 all through those 
years of patient and perfect ministry, and recollect 
all the time that it is He who says to you, ' Come 
unto Me/ 16 Unto Him, the man Christ Jesus, 7 
full of compassion, and tender yet royal grace. 

Then look at the great central scene of the 
universe, — the central moment not of a world's 
history only, but of eternity ; — look at the Saviour, 
who His own self bare our sins in His own body 
on the tree, 8 bowing His bleeding head under that 
awful burden, 9 because His faithfulness was unto 
the death, 10 and His love was strong as death ! u 
'Behold your God,' 12 and 'Behold the Man,' 13 
who loved you and gave Himself for you ; u hear 
His own touching call, ' I said, Behold Me, behold 
Me!' 15 Look away from all the 'other things/ 
look at the Crucified One, and, as you gaze, re- 
member that He says, 'Come unto Me ! ' 
»■ — _^ / 

1 Isa. ix. 6. 2 Isa. lxiii. i. 3 Isa. xxxviii. 20. 

4 Acts x. 38. 5 Hos. xiv. 8. 6 Matt. xx. 28. 

7 1 Tim. ii. 5, 8 1 Pet. ii. 24. 9 Isa. liii.' 6. 

10 Johnxiii. 1. ll Cant. viii. 6. 12 Isa. xl. 9. 

13 John xix. 5. 14 Gal. ii. 20. 15 Isa. lxv. I* 



CO MIX G TO CHRIST. g 

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, 1 that 
both from the depth of sorrow and from the height 
of glory this Royal Invitation comes to you ? 

For it is the call not only of Jesus Crucified, but 
of Jesus Reigning and Jesus Coming. * See that ye 
refuse not Him that speaketh,' 2 for He is coming to 
yidge the quick and the dead. 3 He is reigning now, 
and there are no neutrals in His kingdom. 4 All are 
either willing and loyal subjects, or actual rebels, — 
those who have obeyed the King's call, and come, 
and those who have 'made light of it,' 5 and not 
come. 

Which are you ? 

Think of the day when the great white throne is 
set, 6 and when the Son of man shall come in His 
glory; 7 when all will be gathered before Him, and 
He shall separate them one from another, 8 and know 
that it is ' this same Jesus ,9 who now says to you, 
'Come unto Me ! ' 

Just as I am — without one plea, 
But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

1 Lam. i. 12. 2 Heb. xii. 25. 3 Acts x. 42. 

4 Luke xi. 23. 5 Matt. xxii. 5. 6 Rev. xx. ex. 

' Matt. xxv. 31. 6 Matt. xxv. 32. 9 Acts i. n. 



IO 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



SECOND DAY. 



MbaUs'Soming'? 

* Come unto Me.' — Matt. xi. 28. 

<TVUT what is " coming " ? ' 
-D One's very familiarity with the terms used 
to express spiritual things, seems to have a ten- 
dency to make one feel mystified about them. 
And their very simplicity makes one suspicious, 
as it were, that there must be some mysterious and 
mystical meaning behind them, 1 because they 
sound too easy and plain to have such great 
import. 'Come' means 'come/ — just that ! and 
not some occult process of mental effort. 

What would you understand by it, if you heard 
it to-day for the first time, never having had any 
doubts or suppositions or previous notions what- 
ever about it? What does a little child under- 
stand by it? It is positively too simple to be 
made plainer by any amount of explanation. If 
you could see the Lord Jesus standing there, right 
before you, and you heard Him say, i Come ! ' 2 
would you say, ' What does a come " mean ? ' And 
if the room were dark, so that you could only hear 

1 z Cor. ii. 14. 2 Matt. xiv. 29. 



COMING TO CHRIST. n 

and not see, would it make any difference ? Would 
you not turn instantly towards the l Glorious 
Voice ■ ? ■ Would you not, in heart, and will, and 
intention, instantaneously obey it? 2 — that is, if 
you believed it to be Himself. 3 For i he that 
cometh to God must believe that He is.' 4 The 
coming so hinges on that, as to be really the same 
thing. The moment you really believed, you would 
really come ; and the moment you really come, you 
really believe. Now the Lord Jesus is as truly and 
actually ' nigh thee ' 5 as if you could see Him. 
And He as truly and actually says ' Come ' to you 
as if you heard Him. Fear not, believe only, 6 and 
let yourself come to Him straight away! 'Take 
with you words, and turn to the Lord : say unto 
Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us gra- 
ciously.' 7 And know that His answer is, 'Him that 
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.' 8 

Do you still feel unaccountably puzzled about it? 
Give a quiet hour to the records of how others came 
to Him. Begin with the eighth of St. Matthew, 
and trace out all through the Gospels how they 
came to Jesus with all sorts of different needs, and 
trace in these your own spiritual needs of cleansing, 
healing, salvation, guidance, sight, teaching. They 
knew what they wanted, and they knew Whom they 
wanted. And consequently they just came. Ask 
the Holy Spirit to show you what you want and 
Whom you want, and you will talk no more about 

1 Isa. xxx. 30. 2 Jer. Hi. 22. 3 Heb. xi 6. 

4 John vi. 35. 5 Deut. xxx. 14. 6 Luke viii. 50. 

• Hos. xiv. 2. 8 John vi. 37. 



12 COMING TO CHRIST, 

what it means, you will just come} And then you 
will say, * Now we believe, not because of thy say- 
ing; for we have heard Him ourselves, and 
know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of 
the world/ 2 and you will say, ' My Lord and my 
God/ 3 



THIRD DAY. 



Ell Gbinge are IReafc^ 

' Come; for all things are now ready.' — Luke xiv. 17. * 

/I LL things ! God the Father is ready to save 
**1 you. 4 Jesus Christ is ready to receive you. 5 
The Holy Spirit is ready to dwell in you. 6 Are you 
ready ? 

All things. The ' great salvation ' is r%eady for 
you. 7 The full atonement is made for you. 8 The 
eternal redemption is obtained for you. 9 Are you 
ready? 

All things. The cleansing fountain is opened 
for you. 10 The robe of righteousness is wrought for 
you. 11 The way into the holiest is consecrated for 
you. 12 Are you ready? 

All things. All things that pertain unto life and 

1 John xii. 32. 2 John iv. 42. 3 John xx. 28. 

4 Isa. xxxviii. 20. 5 John vi. 37. 6 Rom. viii. 9. 

T Heb. ii. 3. 8 Rom. v. xx. 9 Heb. ix. 12. 

10 Zech. xiii. 1. ll Rom. iii. 22. 12 Heb. x. 19, 20. 



CO MIX G TO CHRIST, 13 

godliness are given you by His Divine power. 1 
Exceeding great and precious promises are given 
you. 2 The supply of all your need is guaranteed 
to you. 3 Strength and guidance, teaching and 
keeping, are provided for you. Even the good 
works in which you shall walk are prepared for 
you. 4 A Father's love and care and a Saviour's 
gift of peace are waiting for you. The feast is 
spread for you. 5 All these things are ready for 
you. 6 Are you ready for them? 

Even if you did not heed nor believe any other 
words of Jesus, could you — can you — doubt His 
dying words ? Surely they are worthy of all ac- 
' ceptation ! 7 What are they ? 

' It is finished ! ' 8 

IVJiat is finished ? c I have finished the work 
that Thou gavest Me to do.' 9 And what is that 
work? Simply the work of our salvation. That is 
the reason why all things are now ready, because 
Jesus has finished that all-inclusive work. When 
a thing is finished, how much is there left to do? 
The question sounds too absurd with respect to or- 
dinary things. We hardly take the trouble to an- 
swer, ' Why nothing, of course ! ' When Jesus has 
finished the work, how much is there left for you to 
do ? Do you not see ? Nothing, of course ! You 
have only to accept that work as really finished, and 
accept His dying declaration that it is so. 10 What 
further assurance would you have? Is not this 
enough ? Does your heart say Yes, or No ? 

1 1 Tim. iv. 8. 2 2 Pet. i. 3, 4. 3 Phil. iv. 19. 

* Eph. ii. 10. 5 Isa. xxv. 6. 6 Matt. xxii. 4. 

7 1 Tim. i. 15. 8 John xix. 30. 9 John xvii. 4. 
M 2 Tim. ii. 13. 



!4 COMING TO CHRIST. 

'Do ye now believe ? u Settle that; and then 
what follows ? Hear another word of the Faithful 
Witness. 2 Remember, it is no less true than the 
other. The Holy Lips that spoke that grand truth 
on the cross spoke nothing that could deceive or 
mislead. 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that 
believeth on Me hath everlasting life.* 3 What does 
this mean ? Just what it says, and nothing less ! 
It means that even if you never believed before — even 
if you never had a spark of faith or glimmer of 
hope before — yet if you have now given your heart- 
assent to Jesus and His finished work, you have 
now everlasting life ! 4 That heart-assent is believ- 
ing f and i he that believeth on the Son hath ever- 
lasting life.' 6 And this ' believing ' is i coming ; ,T 
and thus coming you shall find for yourself that all 
things are indeed ready. 

What now ? Shall praise be the only thing not 
ready ? Will you not now prove your acceptance 
of the great gift of eternal life 8 by pouring out your 
thanks 9 at once for it, and prove your trust in the 
finished work 10 by praising the Saviour who died to 
finish it for you ? u 

From the cross uplifted high, 
Where the Saviour deigns to die, 
What melodious sounds I hear, 
Bursting on my ravished ear ! 
Love's redeeming work is done; 
Come, and welcome ! sinner, come ! 

1 John xvi. 31 ; Mark ix. 24. 2 Rev. i. 5. 3 John vi. 47. 

* Acts viii. 32-39. ^ John iii. 16. 6 John iii. 36. 

7 John vi. 35. 8 Rom. vi. 23; 2 Cor. ix. 15. * Cor. i. 12. 

1° Isa. xii. 1, a. 11 1 Pet. ii. 9. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 

Spread for thee the festal board, 
See with richest dainties stored ; 
To thy Father's bosom pressed, 
Yet again a child confessed, 
Never from his house to roam ; 
Come, and welcome ! sinner, come ! 

Thomas Haweis* 



15 



FOURTH DAY. 



IRow* 

* Come now.'— ISA. i. 18. 

ALL things are now ready, therefore come 
now / 
Experience does not run on rails laid regularly 
down, and readers do not always go hand in hand 
and heart to heart with the writer. I only wish 
they did. Then we might try to lead on more 
quickly, instead of reiterating the one call, in the 
hope that it may, first or last, be heard and obeyed. 1 
Please do not imagine, because there are twenty- 
seven more chapters on the same subject, that 
there is any sort of slow necessary progress, any 
set of ideas and feelings to be gone or got through, 
gradually working up to the climax of 'coming.' 
This is all cut short by the simple word, * Come 
now / ' Nothing can be plainer. Therefore, if 
you postpone coming, you are calmly disobeying 
God. When we bid a child to 'come/ we do not 

1 Isa. xxviii. 10. 



1 6 COMING TO CHRIST. 

count it obedience unless it comes at once, then 
and there. It is not obedience if it stops to con- 
sider, and coolly tells you it is 'really thinking about 
coming/ and waits to see how long you will choose 
to go on calling it. 1 

What right have we to treat our holy Lord as we 
would not think of letting a naughty child treat 
us? 2 He says, ' Come now.' And 'now' does not 
mean to-morrow. 3 ' To-day, if ye will hear His 
voice, harden not your hearts.' 4 

Put it to yourself, what if this night God should 
require your soul of you, 5 and you had not 'come?' 
What if the summons finds you still far off, when 
the Precious Blood was ready, by which you might 
have been made nigh? 6 You do not know what a day 
may bring forth. 7 There are plenty of things be- 
sides immediate death which may just as effectually 
prevent your ever coming at all if you do not come 
now. This might be your last free hour for com- 
ing. To-morrow the call may seem rather less 
urgent, and the ' other things entering in' 8 may 
deaden it, and the grieved Spirit may withdraw 9 
and cease to give you even your present inclination 
to listen to it, and so you may drift on and on, 
farther and farther from the haven of safety 10 (into 
which you may enter now if you will), till it is out 
of sight on the horizon. And then it may be too 
late to turn the helm, and the current may be too 
strong; and when the storm of mortal illness at 

1 Rom. x. 21. 2 Jer. vii. 13 ; Isa. lxv. 2. 

3 Jas. iv. 14. 4 Heb. iv. 7. 5 Luke xii. 20. 

6 Eph. ii. 13. 7 Prov. xxvii. 1 8 Mark iv. 19. 

* Eph. iv. 30. 10 Ps. H. n. 



COMING TO CHRIST. Y j 

last comes, you may find that you are too weak 
mentally or physically to rouse yourself even to 
hear, much less to come. What can one do when 
fever or exhaustion are triumphing over mind and 
body ? Do not risk it. Come now ! And i though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall 
be as wool.' 1 



FIFTH DAY. 



Coming into tbe Hrfc* 

' Come thou, and all thy house, into the Ark.' — Gen. vii. I. 

NO need to repeat the story ! We knew it all at 
six years old. To-day the words are sent to 
you, ' Come thou I ' 

We are either inside or outside the Ark. There 
is no half-way in this. Outside is death, inside is 
life. 2 Outside is certain, inevitable, utter destruc- 
tion. 3 Inside is certain and complete safety. 4 
Where are you at this moment? Perhaps you dare 
not say confidently and happily, ' lam inside;' and 
yet you do not like to look the alarming alternative 
in the face, and say, 'I am outside !' And you 
prefer trying to persuade yourself that you do not 
exactly know, and can't be expected to be able to 

1 Isa. i. 18. 2 Deut. xxx. 15-19. 

3 John iii. 36. * z John v. 12. 



j3 COMING TO CHRIST. 

answer such a question. And you say, perhaps with 
a shade of annoyance, ' How am I to know?' 1 
God's infallible Word tells you very plainly, 'If 
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old 
things are passed away; behold, all things are 
become new.' 2 'A very severe test!' you say. I 
cannot help that ; I can only tell you exactly what 
God *says. ' I cannot reverse it,' 3 and you cannot 
alter it. So then, if old things have not passed 
away in your life, and if you are not a new crea- 
ture, 4 'born again/ 5 altogether different in heart 
and life and love and aim, 6 you are not ' in Christ. ,T 
And if you are not ' in Christ/ you are out of 
Christ, 8 outside the only place of safety. 

* Come thou into the Ark ! ' It is one of the 
devices of the destroyer to delude you into fancy- 
ing that no very decided step is necessary. He is 
very fond of the word 'gradually.' You are to 
become more earnest — gradually. You are to find 
salvation — gradually. You are to turn your mind 
to God — gradually. Did you ever think that God 
never once uses this word nor anything like it ? 
Neither the word nor the sense of it occurs in any 
way in the whole Bible with reference to salvation. 9 
You might have been l gradually ' approaching the 
Ark, and ' gradually ' making up your mind to 
enter ; but unless you took the one step into the 
Ark, the one step from outside to inside, what 
would have been your fate when the door was shut ? lf 



1 i John v. 13. 2 2 Cor. v. 17. 3 Num. xxiii. 20. 

4 Gal. vi. 15. 5 John iii. 3. 6 1 John iii. 14. 

7 Eph. ii. 12, 13. 8 Acts iv. 12. ^9 Prov. xviii. 10. 
10 Gen. vii. 21, 22. 



COMING TO CHRIST. !g 

* Come thou into the Ark ! ' I want the call to 
haunt you, to ring in your ears all day and all night, 
till you come} 

For at this moment, if you are not in the Ark, 
you are in more awful danger than you can conceive. 
Just because you know it is so awful, you shut your 
eyes and try not to think of it ! But there it is, all 
the same. Any moment the door may be shut for 
you. 2 Any hour may be the sunset of your day of 
grace, with no twilight of possibilities of salvation 
beyond. 3 And then, as the tree falleth, so it lieth. 4 
As death finds you, so the judgment will find you. 4 
Where it finds you, inside or outside the Ark, there 
the day of the Lord will find you, ' in the which 
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and 
the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the 
earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
burned up. ' 6 What will you do then, 7 when neither 
heavens nor earth afford even a standing place for 
you? 8 

But ' come thou into the Ark ! ' Jesus is the Ark. 
He is the hiding-place 9 from that fiery tempest. 'I 
flee unto Thee to hide me ,10 ' from the wrath to 
come.' 11 'Thou art my Hiding-place.' 12 

He who brings the flood 13 has provided the Ark. 
And the door is open. It will be shut some day 
— it may be shut to-morrow. What will you do if 
you find yourself not shut in, u but shut out ? Whose 
fault is it if you do not enter in and be saved ? 

1 Heb. xii. 25. 2 Matt. xxv. 10. 3 Luke xiii. 25-28. 

4 Eccl. xi. 3. 5 Rev. xx. 12. 6 2 Pet. iii. 10. 

7 Jer. V. 31. 8 Rev. vi. 17. 9 Isa. xxxii. 2. 

10 Ps. cxliii. 9. 11 Matt. iii. 7. 12 Ps. xxxii. 7. 

13 Gen. vi. 17. 14 Gen. vii. 16. 



20 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Noah did not put it off. He and his family 
entered the self-same day into the Ark. 1 I wonder 
if any of Noah's acquaintances were thinking about 
coming when the flood overtook them, and even 
coming ' gradually ' nearer ! We are told that 
' Noah only 2 remained alive, and they that were with 
him in the Ark.' Then, once more, ' Come thou 
into the Ark/ that when the ' great and terrible 
day' 3 comes, you may be ' found of Him in 
peace/ 4 ' found in Him/ 5 

The rising tempest sweeps the sky, 
The rain descends, the winds are highs 
The waters swell, and death and fear 
Beset thy path, no refuge near ; 
Haste, traveller, haste ! 

Oh, haste ! a shelter you may gain, 
A covert from the wind and rain, 
A hiding-place, a rest, a home, 
A refuge from the wrath to come : 
Haste, traveller, haste ! 

W. B. Collyer. 

1 Gen. vii. 13. 2 Gen. vii. 23. 3 Joel ii. 3X* 

4 2 Pet. iii. 14. 5 Phil. iii. 9. 



I 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 2 I 



SIXTH DAY. 



Drawn into tbe Hrfc. 

* Thou shalt come into the Ark.' — Gen. vi. 1 8. 

YOU would like to take this great step out of 
danger into safety ; but you find it very hard, 
though it sounds very easy. You feel as if you had 
spiritual nightmare, — seeing the danger, and not 
able to stir hand or foot to escape it. 1 

Perhaps every one who comes to Christ has this 
sense of utter helplessness about it. 2 This is because 
the Holy Spirit must convince us that the whole 
thing is God's doing, and not ours, so that He may 
have all the glory of saving us from beginning to 
end. 3 It is not at all because He is not willing to save 
us, but just because He is willing, that He lets us 
find out for ourselves that our own will is so numb 
that it cannot rouse and move without the fire of 
His love and grace. 4 

Now just trust His promise, ' Thou shalt come 
into the Ark;' in other words, believe that His 
power and love are even now being exerted upon 



1 Rom. v. 6. 2 Deut. xxxii. 36. 

3 Isa. xlii. 8; ib. lix. 16. 4 Eph. ii. 1. 



22 COMING TO CHRIST. 

you, and that your sense of helplessness is only part 
of Hi? wonderful way of drawing you to Jesus. 
God the Father is 'not willing that any should 
perish, 1 but that all should come to repentance.' 2 

Then why do any perish? Simply because they 
won't come; because they will not yield to the 
winning love and the 'drawing' power which is 
now being put forth to save you, if, as you read this, 
you want to be saved. There is no sadder word in 
the Bible than ' Ye will not come to Me, that ye 
might have life. ,3 But if you are saying, ever so 
feebly and faintly, 'I will,' God meets it with His 
strong and gracious 'Thou shalt.'* 

Do not fear to take the ' Thou ' to yourself. Re- 
member the great 'Whosoever will,' 5 and look up 
at this star of promise in the dark, ' Thou shalt come 
into the Ark.' Jesus said, 'All that the Father 
giveth Me shall come to Me.' 6 And the Father 
says, ' I will cause him to draw near, and he shall 
approach unto Me ; for who is this that engaged his 
heart to approach unto Me ?' 7 Whose heart ? Is it 
not yours? You would hardly be reading these 
pages, if your heart were not at all engaged to 
approach unto Him. And if it is so engaged, who 
engaged it ? Who but the God from whom alone 
all holy desires do proceed ? 

Then go on a few verses farther, and see the word 
of the Lord to you. ' Yea, I have loved thee with 
an everlasting love ; therefore with loving-kindness 



1 2 Pet. iii. 9. 2 x Tim. ii. 4. 3 John v. 40, 

* Jer. iii. 19. 5 Rev. xxii. 17. 6 John vi. 37 

1 Jer. xxx. 21. 



CO MIX G TO CHRIST. 2 \ 

have I drawn thee.' 1 Now do not wrong, and 
wound, and insult that tremendous love by refusing 
to believe it. He is at this moment giving you the 
personal proof of it, by 'drawing' 2 you even for 
these few minutes. Do not resist the half-formed 
wish to come to Jesus. It is very solemn to realize 
that this is no less than the Father's own drawing 
of you to His dear Son. 3 Without it you could not 
come, because you know you would have refused to 
come; 4 but with it, if only you yield to it, 'thou 
shalt come into the Ark.' 

When the dove found no rest for the sole of her 
foot, and returned to Noah because the waters were 
on the face of the w T hole earth, ' then he put forth 
his hand, and took her and pulled her in ' 5 (margin, 
'caused her to come') 'unto him into the Ark.' 
What a beautiful picture is this little helpless tired 
dove 6 of our helplessness and weariness, and the 
kind Hand, strong and tender, which does not leave 
us to flutter and beat against a closed window, but 
takes us, axid pulls us 'ujito Him, 7 into the Ark! ' 

So we have the willingness of the Father 8 in one 
part of the type, 9 and the willingness of the Son in 
another part, 10 — willingness to receive you into safety 
and rest. 11 Then ' Come thou into the Ark ! ' 12 

1 Jer. xxxi. 3. 2 - s. xi. 4. 3 John vi. 44. 

4 Luke xiii. 34. 5 en. "\ 9. 6 Isa. lx. 8. 

T Luke xiv. 23. 8 Ezek. xviii. 23. 9 2 Cor. vi. 17. 

10 Luke xv. 2. 11 John xii. 32. 12 Gen. vii. 1. 



24 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



SEVENTH DAY. 



Coming for IReat 

< Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest.' — Matt. xi. 28. 

"T^HIS is not your rest.' 1 God says so, and 
A therefore it is no use seeking or hoping or 
trying for it. 2 You may as well give up first as 
last. The dove found no rest for the sole of her 
foot till she came to the ark ; 3 and neither will you. 
And the end of the dreary vista of unrest all 
through the years of a life without Christ, is, ' They 
have no rest day nor night/ 4 

'The people shall weary themselves for very 
vanity.' 5 Do you know anything about that? 
'They weary themselves to commit iniquity.' 6 
'Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way/ 7 
Do these words come home to you ? Or, i But 
now He hath made me weary ; Thou hast made 
desolate all my company?' 8 Whether it is the 
weariness of sin or of sorrow, of vanity or of deso- 
lation (and sooner or later the one must lead into 

1 Mic. ii. 10. 2 Eccl. ii. 17-20. 3 Gen. viii. 9. 

* Rev. xiv. 11. 5 Hab. ii. 13. 6Jer. ix. 5. 

7 Isa. lvii. xo. 8 Job xvi. 7. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



25 



the other), the gentle call floats over the troubled 
waters, ' Come unto Me all ye that labor ' (or ' are 
weary ') i and I will give you rest/ 

But stay ; you may, or rather you must, put in a 
double claim to the promise. You may not be 
consciously, particularly weary or labouring; but 
whether conscious of it or not, you are heavy 
laden, unless the one great burden of sin is taken 
away from you. 1 It is a fact, whether the Holy 
Spirit has convinced you of it or not as yet, 2 that 
unless your iniquity is taken away by personal 
washing in the only Fountain, 3 you are in the posi- 
tion described in the 38th Psalm, ' Mine iniquities 
are gone over my head: as an heavy burden, they 
are too heavy for me.' 4 So much too heavy for 
you, that if you do not accept Christ's offer of rest 
from that burden, 5 you will never be able to find or 
follow the path of life. 6 But why bear it one min- 
ute longer when Jesus says, ' Come unto Me, all ye 
that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ' ? 

1 He hath given us rest by His sorrow, and life 
by His death ;' ' rest from thy sorrow and from thy 
fear, and from thy hard bondage wherein thou wast 
made to serve.' 7 Come and take the gift! It is 
gloriously real. It is no mere slight and tempo- 
rary sense of relief. ' We which have believed do 
enter into rest.' 8 

And He gives us 6 rest on every side/ 9 — complete 
rest, guarded and sheltered all round. 10 

1 Isa. i. 4 ; ib. liii. 6. 2 John xvi. 8, 9. 

3 Zech. xiii. 1 ; 1 John i. 7. 4 Ps. xxxviii. 4. 

5 Ps. lv. 22 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 10. 6 p s . xvi. 11 ; 1 Pet ii. 24. 

7 Isa. xiv. 3. 8 Heb. iv. 3. 

9 t Chron. xxii. 18. 10 1 Kings v. 4. 



2 6 COMING TO CHRIST. 

It is not only rest from all the weariness and bur- 
dens, but rest in Himself. Jesus is spoken of in 
type as i the Man of Rest/ 1 < and His rest shall be 
glorious. 12 It is this, His own Divine rest, that He 
will give. 

1 This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the 
weary to rest.' 3 Is it not worth having? Will you 
not come for it ? You cannot have it without com- 
ing to Jesus ; 4 but only come, and it shall be yours 
■ — for there stands His word — and ' in returning and 
lest shall ye be saved. ' 5 

I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

* Come unto Me and rest ; 
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down 

Thy head upon My breast.' 
I came to Jesus as I was, 

Weary, and worn, and sad ; 
I found in Him a resting-place, 

And Ht has made me glad. 

Dr. H. Bonar. 
— — * 

1 1 Chron. xxii. 9. 2 T S a. xi. 10. 3 Jsa. xxviii. 12, 

i * Hos. xiii. 9. 5 Isa. xxx. 15. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



27 



EIGHTH DAY. 



Want of Will. 

' Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.'— JOHN 
V. 40. 

IT is almost certain that some whose eyes glance 
over these pages will be conscious that they do 
not very much care to come to Christ, for this is at 
once the commonest and the most fatal hindrance. 
You cannot honestly say that you want to come. 
You perhaps go as far as to say, with momentary 
seriousness, ' I wish that I wished ! ' but no farther. 
In your inmost heart you would rather be ' let 
alone,' 1 not considering that that is the most ter- 
ribly certain beginning of doom. You are not per- 
fectly comfortable, but you are not so uncomfort- 
able as to feel inclined to make any effort. And 
as long as you can keep from thinking about it, you 
say you are ' very happy.' Now believe me, yours 
is a ten times worse and more dangerous state than 
if you were a condemned murderer, knowing his 
doom, realizing his sin and therefore seeking the 

1 Hos. iv. 17. 



2 8 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Saviour and coming to Him • with all the desire of 
his mind/ 1 

For so long as you are not willing, i.e., not 
actually and actively willing to come (for that is the 
meaning of the original), of course you cannot 
come. And without coming to Jesus you cannot 
have life. 2 And if you do not have life, there is 
nothing but death for you, — the second death with 
all its unknown terrors, into the realities of which 
any moment may plunge you. 3 Your not believing 
this makes no difference to the fact. 4 Your doubt- 
ing it makes no difference to its certainty. I assert 
it on the authority of the Word of God. ' I call 
heaven and earth to record this day against you, 
that I have set before you life and death. There- 
fore choose life.' 5 For in not willing life, you are 
willing death, and ' why will ye die ? ,6 

Why ? Is it not utterly unreasonable ? Would 
any but a lunatic walk with mirth and fun over the 
thin crust which hides unknown depths of boiling 
lava ? Would you enjoy a picnic in the midst of it ? 
Yet this is less mad than what you are doing. 

Then you will say, r I can't help it ! I can't 
make myself care ! ' Exactly so ; and just in this 
fact lies, not your excuse, but your one hope and 
help. You cannot make yourself care to flee from 
the wrath to come. 7 You cannot rouse yourself to 
be willing to come to Christ for salvation. But 
One can. 8 And you may and can ask for the Holy 



1 Deut. xviii. 6. 2 T John v. 12. 3 Rev. xxi. 8. 

4 Rom. iii. 3, 4. 5 Deut. xxx. 19 ; Jer. xxi. 8. 

* Ezek. xviii. 31. 7 Matt. iii. 7. 8 Hos. xiii. 9. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 2 Q 

Spirit to make you willing. You can say, ' O God, 
give me Thy Holy Spirit to make me willing to 
come, for Jesus Christ's sake/ God makes no con- 
dition whatever as to giving this. The Blessed 
Spirit is promised most simply and unconditionally 
* to them that ask Him.' 1 This promise says noth- 
ing even about desiring or thirsting ; it premises 
absolutely nothing, but comes to the lowest depths 
of sin-paralyzed will — it is only and simply, t Ask.' 

Remember that one spirit or the other is now 
working in you. It is very awful to read of l the 
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience;' 2 and what is more direct disobedience 
than not coming when Jesus calls ? Therefore 
'ask/ and ask at once, for the other spirit, the 
Holy Spirit, who can make you ' willing in the day 
of His power/ 3 — God the Holy Ghost, who 
1 worketh in us to will.' 4 

Think of Jesus saying, ' How often would 1/ 
' but ye would not.' 5 He is willing. 

May He give you ' one heart to do the command- 
ment of the King ! ' 6 

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, 

With all Thy quickening powers ! 
Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love, 
And that shall kindle ours ! 

Dr. Watts. 

1 Luke xi. 9-13. 2 Eph. ii. 2. 3 p s . ex. 3. 

* Phil. ii. 13. 5 Luke xiii. 34. 6 2 Chron. xxx. iz, 



•jO COMING TO CHRIST. 



NINTH DAY. 



Cbe (Tall of tbe Spirit 

*And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.' — Rev. xxii. 17. 

HAVE you thought about 'the love of the 
Spirit ' P 1 Have you realized that God's 
* loving Spirit' 2 says to you, ^ Come ' ? Are you 
conscious that if you refuse to listen to this gentlest 
call, you are ' grieving ,3 the Holy Spirit of God, 
— ' vexing' 4 Him by the rebellion to which this 
refusal really amounts, — ' resisting ' 5 the Holy 
Ghost, whose power alone can work 6 in you the 
holiness without which you can never see the 
Lord? 7 

Every ' Come ! ' in the Bible is the call of the 
Spirit. For ' all Scripture is given by inspiration 
of God,' 8 and the i holy men of God spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost.' 9 And every time 
that a still small voice in your heart says ' Come,' 
it is the call of the Spirit. Every time the remem- 
brance of the Saviour's sweetest spoken word floats 

1 Rom. xv. 30. 2 Ps. cxliii. 10, p. v. B. 3 Eph. iv. 30. 

4 Isa. lxiii. 10. 5 Acts vii. 51. 6 2 Thess. ii. 13, 

1 Heb. xii. 14. 8 2 Tim. iii. 16. 9 2 Pet. i. 21. 



COMING TO CHRIST. oj 

across your mind, it is the Holy Spirit's fulfilment 
of our Lord's promise that ' He shall bring all 
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have 
said unto you.' 1 Last time those words, ' Come 
unto Me,' came into your mind, whether in some 
wakeful night hour, or suddenly and unaccountably 
amid the stir of the day, did you think that it was 
the very voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in your 
heart ? Or did you let other voices drown it, not 
knowing that the goodness of God was leading you 
by it ? 2 

Every time an ambassador of Christ 3 bids you 
,come, and every time that any one who loves Him 
tries to speak a word for Jesus to you, it is the call 
of the Spirit and the Bride ; for the Bride is the 
Church of Christ, 4 and she is the privileged instru- 
ment through which the clear music of the call is 
oftenest heard. 

What makes you take the trouble to read this 
book ? Why is there any attraction at all for you 
in the subject? Is it not that the Holy Spirit is 
causing your heart to vibrate, it may be but very 
feebly as yet, at the thrill of His secret call ? Your 
awakening wish to come is the echo of that call. If 
you stop and listen, it will be heard more distinctly 
and winningly. The call will grow fuller and 
stronger as you turn and yield, and follow it. And 
the same blessed Spirit will give you power to do 
this. 5 He will show you your need of Jesus, and 
He will testify of Jesus to you, so that you shall be 



1 John xiv. a6. 2 Rom. ii. 4. 3 2 Cor v 

4 Eph. v. 25-32 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16. 5 1 Thess. 



32 COMING TO CHRIST, 

willing to come. 1 Do you feel very helpless about 
it ? 2 Do you wish you had the mighty aid of the 
Almighty Spirit, so that you might rise and come 
while Jesus of Nazareth passeth by ? 3 Then why do 
you not ask for it ? Who is to blame if you do 
not have what is to be had for the asking ? 4 Christ 
Himself has put the promise in the very plainest 
words: 'Ask, and it shall be given you/ and 
'Every one that asketh receiveth.' 5 What could 
you wish Him to say more ? What could He possi- 
bly say more? Clearly, if you have not, it is 
because you ask not. 6 But if you are asking for 
the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, you have al- 
ready the earnest of the Spirit, 7 and you shall have 
more and more. 8 So take courage ! 

But it is no light thing to put away a holy desire, 
however feeble; because it sprang not from your 
own heart, but is the voice of the Spirit saying, 
Come ! It will not always speak, if not obeyed. 
Turn back from Revelation to Genesis, and you 
find the shadow of the bright light of the winning 
call in the unchanged warning note : ' My Spirit 
shall not always strive with man.' 9 Not always, 
dear, unknown friend, whom I would fain win for 
my Lord, — not always / But He is striving now, 
He is calling now, ' To-day, if ye will hear His 
voice.' 10 Listen, yield, come ! 

1 John xv. 26. 2 John v. 7. 3 Mark x. 47-49. 

4 Luke xi. 13. 5 Matt. vii. 7, 8. 6 Jas. iv. 2. 

7 2 Cor. i. 22. 8 Matt. xiii. 12. 9 Gen. vi. 3 ; Prov. xxix, 1. 
10 Heb. iv. 7. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 33 



TENTH DAY. 



Come ano See. 

'He (Jesus) saith unto them. Come and see.' ' Philip saith 
(into him, Come and See.' — John i. 39, 46. 

WHEN Jesus had found Philip, Philip knew 
that he had found Him. And the next 
thing to knowing that ' we have found Him ' is to 
find some one else, and say, ' Come and see ! ' I 
say it now to you, dear friend, known or unknown, 

I We have found Him ! n ' We see Jesus ! ,2 If you 
only knew the irresistible longing, 3 the very heart's 
desire * that you should find and see Him too, you 
would pardon all the pertinacity, all the insistence, 
with which again and again we say, 'Come and 
see ! ' The woman of Samaria left her water-pot, 
and went her way into the city with the same mes- 
sage: ' Come, see a man which told me all things 
that ever I did.' 5 And we to whom Jesus has said, 

I I that speak unto thee am He,' 6 cannot do other- 
wise or less. 

1 John i. 45. 2 Heb. ii. 9. 3 2 Cor. v. 14. 

* Rom. x. x. 5 John ir. 28, 29. 6 John iv. 26 ; 1 Cor. ix. z<x 



34 COMIXG TO CHRIST. 

It is not always very easy to say it. You little 
know how much it sometimes costs us ! l You do 
not know that though the few words seem so easily 
spoken, and you take them as a matter of course 
from us, because you know we are of ' that way' 2 of 
thinking, they may have cost us not a little wrest- 
ling with God for faith and courage to utter them, 
and an effort which will leave us weary and 
exhausted. But 'we cannot but speak the things 
which we have seen and heard ; ,3 ' we also believe, 
and therefore speak/ 4 We have seen Jesus, 5 and 
therefore we must tell you of the sight, and entreat 
you to ' come and see. ' Understand or misunder- 
stand us as you will, we must ' say, Come ! ,6 

But what is it that we are so burningly eager for 
you to see ? Very likely you suppose it is just that 
we have a certain set of views that we have taken 
up, and we want you to hold the same. You think 
it is merely that we want to bring you over to our 
opinions, and that we want to have the satisfaction 
of getting you to agree with us ! Oh, how wide of 
the mark ! It is no such thing. We are not speak- 
ing of what we think, but ' we speak that we do 
know, and testify that we have seen.' 7 We have 
seen by faith 8 the only sight that is worth gazing 
upon, the sight that satisfies the angels, 9 the sight 
that is enough for the joy and satisfaction of im- 
mortal vision throughout eternity. One thing we 
know, that, whereas we were blind, now we see. 10 

1 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. 2 Acts xix. 9 ; ib. ix. 2. 3 Acts iv. 20. 

* 2 Cor. iv. 13. 5 1 John i. 3. 6 Rev. xxii. 17. 

1 1 Johniv. 14 ; John iii. n. 8 Heb. xi. 27. 9 1 Tim. iii. 16. 
10 John ix. 25. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



35 



We see Jesus, as our Lord and our God. 1 

We see Him as the very Saviour we need, and 
the very Friend we craved. 

We see Him as c the Son of God, who loved me 
and gave Himself for me.' 2 

We see Him wounded for our transgressions, and 
bruised for our iniquities f our Substitute and our 
Sin-bearer. 

We see Him, too, crowned with glory and 
honour, 4 and we rejoice in His glory and beauty f 
we make our boast of Him. 6 

If you say to us, * What is thy Beloved more than 
, another beloved? ' 7 we reply, < My beloved is the 
chiefest among ten thousand. Yea, He is alto- 
gether lovely.' 

It is not at; all only for your own sakes that we 
want you so very much to come and see. We do 
want you to look and be saved. 8 But our earnest- 
ness has a stronger spring than even that. We love 
our Lord, so that we cannot bear Him not to be 
esteemed aright. We cannot bear Him to be 
thought little of, and to be misunderstood ; 9 it is 
pain, real pain, to us when He is not appreciated 
and loved and adored, 10 — when all that He has done 
is treated as not worth whole-hearted gratitude and 
love, 11 — when His great and blood-bought salvation 
is neglected. 12 For His own beloved sake, for His 
own glory's sake, we want you to come and see, 
that you may love and bless and glorify Him ! 

1 John xx. 28. 2 Gal. ii. 20. 3 Isa. liii. 5. 

4 Heb. ii. 9. 5 Zech. ix. 17. 6 Ps. xxxiv. 2. 

7 Cant. v. 9, 10, i6, 8 Isa.xlv. 22. 9 1 Pet. ii. 4. 

10 Isa. liii. 3. 11 Lam. i. 12 12 Heb. ii. 3. 



36 



COMING TO CHRIST. 






But, remember, this is not only our feeble human 
entreaty; it is Jesus Himself who first said, and 
still says, * Come and see ! ' He says, ' Behold Me, 
behold Me ! n 

I know what you will say when you have come. 
You will say, ' Howbeit, I believed not their words 
until\ came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, be- 
hold, the half was not told me. 2 Thou exceedest 
the fame that I heard ! ,3 

O Master, blessed Master, it is hard indeed to know 

That thousands round our daily path misunderstand Thee so ! 

Despised and rejected yet, no beauty they can see, 

O King of glory and of grace, beloved Lord, in Thee. 

O Saviour, precious Saviour, come in all Thy power and 

grace, 
And take away the veil that hides the glory of Thy face I 
Oh, manifest the marvels of Thy tenderness and love, 
And let thy name be blessed and praised all other names 

above. 

1 Isa. lxv. x. 2 z Kings x. 7. da Chroo. ix. 6. 






COMING TO CHRIST. 37 



ELEVENTH DAY. 



Zhe Safe Denture. 

1 Bid me come unto Thee. . . . And He said, 
' Come.' — Matt. xiv. 28, 29. 



1 



F Jesus says, ' Come ! ' don't you think you 
may venture ? 

Perhaps it is night in your soul, 1 — as dark as 
ever it can be. It would not be so bad if you 
could even distinctly see the waves of the troubled 
sea 2 on which you are tossing. You do not know 
where you are. All seems vague and uncertain and 
wretched and confused. 3 And though the Lord 
Jesus is very near you, though He has come to you 
walking on the water, and has said, ' It is I, be not 
afraid,' 4 you cannot see Him, and you are not at 
all sure it is His voice; 5 or if it is, that He is 
speaking to you. So of course you are ' troubled.' 6 

And if, in this trouble, you go on trying to steer 
and row for yourself, these same waves will prove 



1 Ps. cvii. 14. 2 Job. xvi. 16. * Jer. xvii. 9. 

4 Matt. xiv. 25. 5 Matt. xiv. 27. 6 Matt. xiv. 26. 



38 COMING TO CHRIST. 

themselves to be awful realities, and you will be lost 
in the storm. Do not venture that ; but venture 
out through the darkness and upon the waves at the 
bare word of Jesus. 

You do not need even to say, ' Lord, bid me 
come to Thee ! ' for He has done that already. 
Jesus has bid you ' Come ! n and the bidding would 
be no more real if He opened the heavens, and 
said it again to you from the right hand of the 
throne of God. So the only question is, Will you 
venture ? 

True, it is but a word, but think Whose word ! 2 
Could the word that Jesus Christ Himself uttered 
be a vain deceit ? 3 Is not the Person the guarantee 
of the word? 4 'The word only,' 5 of the Son of 
God has proved enough for every one of the great 
multitude that no man could number, 6 and it will 
be enough for you. 

It does not matter in the least that you cannot 
see, and that you cannot feel, and that you cannot 
hear or distinguish anything else at all. 7 It does 
not matter in the least that you feel miserable and 
confused, and that you don't know what will come 
next. 8 It does not matter in the least that you can- 
not exactly understand how this simple coming can 
result in calm, and peace, and safety, and finding 
yourself at the land. 9 It does not matter in the 
least that the waters are casting up all the mire and 
dirt 10 of all the sinfulness of heart and life, the 'old 



1 Matt. xi. 28. 2 Matt. xxiv. 35. 3 John xii. 48. 

4 Num. xxiii. 19* 5 Matt. viii. 8. 6 Rev. vii. 9. 

1 1sa. 1. 10. 8 Isa. ix. 5 ; 2 Chron. xx. 12. 

9 John vi. 21. 10 Isa. lvii. 20. 



COMING TO CHRIST. ^Q 

sins/ 1 and the besetting sins. 2 It does not matter 
in the least that all the winds of doubt seem let 
loose upon you, boisterous and blowing from every 
point to which you turn. 3 All this, and everything 
else that is ' contrary,' 4 is only so much the more 
reason for the simple venture. Just only you 
j ' come ! ' And even if in the very act of coming 
you are afraid, 5 and think you are beginning to 
sink, come on with the cry, < Lord, save me ! ,6 and 
immediately Jesus will save you, and with the 
strong grasp of His hand the unanswerable ques- 
tion will come, ' Wherefore didst thou doubt?' 7 
You need not say, 'If I perish, I perish/ 8 for you 
will not perish, and cannot perish, in this blessed 
venture of your soul upon His word. 9 He ' will 
cause you to know His hand and His might ;' 10 ' He 
will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy ; He 
will rest in His love/ 11 and you shall rest in His 
love, now and for ever. 

6 They shall know in that day that I am He that 
doth speak; behold, it is I.' 12 

Come, ye weary, heavy laden, 

Lost and ruined by the fall ; 
If you tarry till you're better, 

You will never come at all. 
Not the righteous, 

Sinners Jesus came to call. 

Lo ! the incarnate God, ascended, 
Pleads the merit of His blood ; 



1 2 Pet. i. 9. 2 Heb. xii. 1. 3 2 Tim. K. 13. 

4 Matt. xiv. 24. 5 Mark v. 33. 6 Matt. xiv. 30. 

7 Matt. xiv. 31. 8 Esth. iv. 16. 9 John x. 27, 28. 

M Jer. xvi. 21. 11 Zeph. iii. 17. u Isa. lii. 6. 



40 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Venture on Him, venture wholly, 
Let no other trust intrude. 

None but Jesus 
Can do helpless sinners good. 

Joseph Hart. 



TWELFTH DAY. 



Coming BolM\>. 

* Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that 
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need/ 
»— Heb. iv. 1 6. 

'TTHEREFORE ! ' because we have < such an 
A High Priest/ 1 touched with the feeling of 
our infirmities, and in all points tempted like as we 
are; 2 because He is ' a Priest upon His throne/ 3 ever 
living, with His royal power to save to the utter- 
most/ and His priestly power to make intercession ; 
1 let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of 
grace.' 5 

Boldness and faith go together ; fear and unbe- 
lief go together. 6 'If ye will not believe, surely 
ye shall not be established.' 7 It is always want of 
faith that is at the bottom of all fear. * Why are 
ye fearful? 7 is the question for those ' of little 



1 Heb. vii. 26. 2 Heb. iv. 14, 15. 3 Zech. vi. 13. 

4 Heb. vii. 25. 5 Heb. iv. 16. 6 Rev. xxi.Jft A 

' Isa. vii. 9. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 4! 

faith.' 1 So, in order to come boldly, and there- 
fore joyfully, all we need is more faith in the Great 
High Priest who sits upon the throne of grace. 

Now, do not sigh, 'Ah, I wish I had more faith !' 
It will not come to you by languid lamentations 
about your want of faith. ' It is the gift of God.' 2 
And if thou knewest this gift of God, 3 and who it 
is that only waits to be inquired of, 4 that He may 
give it thee, surely thou wouldst ask of Him ! For 
He giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not,* 
— not even with all your neglect of Him and His 
gifts. Just ask! and he says, 'It shall be given 
you.' 6 'Ye have not, because ye ask not.' 7 And 
\et the least glimmer of dawning faith in your heart 
iead you to go on asking, and to pray continually, 
'Lord, increase our faith.' 8 Then you will be able 
2o come boldly; for ' in Christ Jesus our Lord . . . 
we have boldness and access with confidence by the 
faith of Him.' 9 

People do not come for what they do not want. 
Until the Holy Spirit shows us our need of mercy, 
and puts reality into the Litany prayer, 'Have 
mercy upon us miserable sinners/ 10 we shall never 
come to the throne of grace to obtain meicy. 

1 He that into God's kingdom comes, 
Must enter by this door.' 

So, if you have never yet felt that you could sin- 
cerely say, ' God be merciful to me a sinner ' n (or, 

1 Matt. viii. 26. 2 Eph. ii. 8. 3 John iv. 10. 

4 Ezek. xxxvi. 37. 5 Jas. i. 5. 6 Matt. vii. 7. 

T Jas. iv. 2. 8 Luke xvii. 5. 9 Eph. iii. 11, 12. 

*° Ps. Ii. x. 11 Luke xviii. 13. 



42 



COMING TO CHRIST, 



as the Greek has it more emphatically, i to me, the 
sinner '), and therefore have never yet felt particu- 
larly anxious to come to the throne of grace to ob- 
tain it, I would urgently entreat you to pray, 
' Lord, show me myself ! ' When the Holy Spirit 
answers that prayer, you will be eager enough to 
come and obtain mercy ! It will be the one thing 1 
then that you will be particularly anxious about. 

Obtaining mercy comes first ; then finding grace 
to help in time of need. You cannot reverse 
God's order. You will not find grace to help in 
time of need till you have sought and found mercy 
to save. You have no right to reckon on God's 
help and protection and guidance, and all the other 
splendid privileges which He promises to 'the chil- 
dren of God by faith in Jesus Christ/ 2 until you 
have this first blessing, the mercy of God in Christ 
Jesus ; for it is ' in ' Jesus Christ that all the prom- 
ises of God are yea, and Amen. 3 But He is ' rich 
in mercy/ 4 and 'delighteth in mercy.' 5 All who 
have come to the throne of grace for it * are now 
the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, 
but now have obtained mercy.' 6 And then no less 
surely will they, and do they, ' find grace to help 
in every time of need.' 7 

1 Let us therefore come boldly ! ' 

Behold the throne of grace ! 

The promise calls me near ; 
There Jesus shows a smiling face, 

And waits to answer prayer. 

1 Luke x. 4e. 2 Gal. iii. 26. 3 2 Cor. i. 19, 20. 

4 Eph. ii. 4. 5 Mic. vii. 18. 6 1 Pet. ii. 10. 

7 Heb. iv. z6. 



COMING TO CHRIST. ** 

My soul, ask what thou wilt, 

Thou canst not be too bold ; 
Since His own blood for thee He spilt, 

What else can He withhold ? 

John Newton. 



THIRTEENTH DAY. 



H Ibinfcrance. 

' First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer 
thy gift.' — Matt. v. 24. 

IT is a strange gift that we have to bring, — so 
strange, that it is in one sense ' nothing/ and 
yet in another sense everything. He asks us for it, 
saying, ' Give Me thine heart; 71 and this heart of 
ours, this gift that we are to bring, worthless and 
yet priceless, 2 is one mass of sins and burdens. 3 
Jesus asks for it just as it is, with all the sins and all 
the burdens ; and the moment it is given over to 
Him, the sins are cleansed and the burdens are 
borne for us. 

Do you wish to come to Him with it, and yet 
find that there seems something preventing you from 
really doing so ? If so, the verse at the head of this 
chapter may throw God's light upon the secret 
obstacle. ' Is there any secret thing with thee ? N 

1 Prov. xxiii. 26. 2 Jer. xvii. 9. 

3 Matt. xv. 19. 4 Job xv. ix. 



44 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Christ will either accept the gift altogether, or not 
at all. 1 If there is something which you do not 
really mean to do right about, — some sin which you 
have no real intention of giving up, — it will be a 
fatal barrier. He forgives all or none. If you are 
but willing, His precious blood shall cleanse you 
from all sin. 2 But He does not save by halves ; and 
if there is a sin knowingly kept back, then ' ye are 
yet in your sins,' 3 and ' thou hast neither part nor 
lot in this matter ; for thy heart is not right in the 
sight of God.' 4 

This may seem a very stern way of putting it ; 
but when such tremendous issues hang upon it, is it 
not folly to shrink from looking the matter straight 
in the face ? The Lord says, ' First be reconciled 
to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.' 

This may be literally your case. Some one may 
have somewhat against you, — an old quarrel, or a 
fresh misunderstanding, — and you are too proud to 
acknowledge your fault, or your share of \t ; 5 or you 
are too timid, or even too idle to do so. When 
there are faults on both sides, it is pretty often the 
one most in fault who is the least ready to forgive. 
Now do look into the matter, and see if you are 
truly 6 ' in love and charity with all men. 17 It is no 
use trying to explain away your daily words, ' For- 
give us our trespasses, as we forgive them that 
trespass against us/ 8 for Christ Himself has ex- 
plained and emphasized them. He said, ' But if ye 
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your 

1 Hos. x. 2. 2 i John i. 7. 3 1 Cor. xv. 17 ; ib. Hi. 3. 

4 Acts viii 21. 5 Jas. v. 16. 6 Heb. xii. 14, 15. 

1 2 John iii. 10, 15. 8 Matt. vi. 15. 



CO MIX G TO CHRIST. *r 

Father forgive your trespasses.' There is no evading 
this. There is absolutely no forgiveness for you, if 
you do not forgive ; for ' who can forgive sins but 
God only?' 1 

And it is no use saying, ' Well, I will forgive, but 
I can't forget!' You know quite well in your 
heart that the very tone in which you say that, shows 
that you are not really forgiving, and God knows 
what is at the bottom of your ' can't forget /' 

Don't turn round fiercely, and say, ' But if I 
can't, I can't ! ' For ' the things which are impos- 
sible with men, are possible with God.' 2 
, Read the 45th of Genesis, and see how Joseph 
forgave ; 3 and remember that the same Spirit of 
God which was in him is freely promised to you for 
the asking. 

And then look at the still greater example of per- 
feet forgiveness, — hear the smitten King in His 
lonely death-agony saying, < Father, forgive them ! ' 4 
* For He knew that forgiveness would raise them to 
the very level of His throne ; so He must have 
literally loved His murderers with the love where- 
with His Father loved Him.' 5 Oh, it is hard to for- 
give anything, when one looks away to the for- 
giveness of Jesus. 6 

Then come and offer thy gift. 

1 Mark ii. 7. 2 Luke xviii. 27. 3 Gen. xlv. 1-15. 

4 Luke xxiii. 34. 5 John xvii. 26. 6 Eph. iv. 32. 



46 



n CHRIST. 



FOURTEENTH DAY. 



Zhc Entreaty to Come. 

' Come near tome, I pray you.' — Gen. xlv. 4. 

* T^HERE stood no man with him, while Joseph 
A made himself known to his brethren. And he 
wept aloud.' 1 They had hated him, conspired 
against him to slay him, very nearly killed him, 
sold him into exile and slavery, and here was the 
brother's recompense for all this — love ! No such 
exquisite story of love and forgiveness was ever 
imagined by any writer ; no such climax of tender- 
ness as Joseph's words through his tears, ' Come 
near to me, I pray you.' Only one thing surpasses 
the type, and that is the antitype. 

Our Elder Brother was more than ' very nearly 
killed.' He poured out His soul unto death. 2 
We are not innocent of His blood; 3 for ' He was 
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised 
for our iniquities.' 4 ' Christ died for our sins. 15 
Mark that, — not merely ' for us,' but 'for our sms,' 



1 Gen. xlv. 1. 
4 Isa. liii. 5. 



2 Isa. liii. 12. 
5 1 Cor. xv. 3. 



3 Zech. xiii. 6. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



47 



for yours. And where has been the love and 
gratitude that you have owed Him all this time? 1 
Where has been the mere acknowledgment of what 
He has suffered for your sins? 2 He did this for 
you, and because of you. And what have you done 
for Him, and because of Him ? 3 

And what could you now expect from Him? 
What did Joseph's brothers expect after their be- 
havior to him ? Well may the Lord say, ' I know 
the thoughts that I think towards you — thoughts of 
peace, and not of evil.' 4 For just as Joseph's words 
to his brethren were not, l Go away, I will have no 
more to do with you/ so the Lord Jesus ' upbraideth 
not,' but says, ' Come near to Me, I pray you.' 

His whole life says it. It is the epitome of all 
He said and did, — winning, beseeching, entreating 
the far-off to come nigh, giving His own blood that 
they might be made nigh. 5 

What is the eloquence of ' those wounds in 
Thine hands?' 6 Are they not always saying, 'I 
pray you ' ? For ' all day long I have stretched forth 
My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying 
people.' 7 

1 All day long,' while you are dressing, and eat- 
ing, and talking, and laughing, and working or 
amusing yourself, Jesus is stretching forth His 
hands to you, calling you, waiting for you, looking 
for the first little thrill of recognition from you, 
saying, ' I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, 8 whom 
thou neglectest, whom thou grievest.' 

1 Ps. cxvi. 12 ; 2 Cor v. 15. 2 1 Pet iii. 18. 

3 Phil. iii. 8. 4 Jer. xxix. u. 5 Eph. ii. 13. 

6 Zech. xiii. 6. 7 Rom. x. 21. 8 Acts ix. 5. 



48 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Joseph's brethren were troubled at his presence. 1 
Do you reply, c Therefore I am troubled at His 
presence ; when I consider, I am afraid of Him '? 2 
Would you, honestly, rather flee from His presence ? 3 
Stay and listen. 

' Come near to Me, I pray you.' 

There is forgiveness with Him ; 4 will you not 
come and receive it ? — Forgiveness for you, though 
every sin of yours that is forgiven had to be borne 
in His dying agony. 5 His love has not changed 
from the moment when He said, ' Father, forgive 
them.' 6 What must that love have been ! And 
what must it be for you and me, for whom He can- 
not make the gracious excuse, 'They know not 
what they do ! ' 

Come alone to Him, and Jesus will make known 
Himself 7 and His forgiving love to you. 

One there is above all others, 

Well deserves the name of Friend ; 

His is love beyond a brother's, 
Costly, free, and knows no end : 

They who once His kindness prove 

Find it everlasting love. 

John Newton. 

1 Gen„ xlv. 3. 2 Job xxiii. 15. 3 p s . cxxxix. 7. 

4 Ps. cxxx. 4. 6 1 Pet. ii. 24. 6 Luke xxiii. 34. 

% Gen. xlv. 1. 



COJ/LVG TO CHRIST. 49 



FIFTEENTH DAY. 



Zbe Command to (Tome. 

* Come unto me. . . . Now thou art commanded, this do 
ye, . . . and come.' — Gen. xlv. 18, 19. 

WE are too much inclined to forget that 'Come* 
is not merely an invitation, but a command. 
An ordinary invitation can be accepted or refused ; 
but a Royal Invitation 1 is always a Royal Command, 
giving no option, but requiring obedience. There- 
fore, just so long as we are hanging back, just so 
long as we have not come to Jesus, we are living in 
a state of actual disobedience to Him. 

Joseph, whose dealings with his brethren are 
among the most beautiful types, was to say to them 
not only, ' Come unto me/ but ' Now thou art 
commanded, this do ye, — and come ! ' 

The Lord Jesus, the King of Glory, has said the 
very same words, ' Come unto Me ! ' 2 to you and 
me. And so we are commanded. There is no 
excusing ourselves by any uncertainty about it. 



1 Matt, xx ii. 2, 3. 2 Matt. xi. 38. 



50 COMING TO CHRIST. 






The very moment that ' Come n first fell on our 
heart, the command was upon us, and we were 
responsible for obeying it. And every moment 
since, we have been disobeying the plainest and 
sweetest word of command that ever fell on mortal 
ear, unless we have really and truly 'come to 
Jesus. ' 

So it is not at all a light thing, but a heavy and 
tremendous sin in which we are living, — the sin of 
direct and continued disobedience to Christ. 

If one single and sudden act of disobedience was 
enough to lose Paradise 2 and lead to incalculable 
consequences of misery, 3 what about this persistence 
in refusal 4 to obey this strong and gentle command, 
clearly understood, continually reiterated, and un- 
mistakably personal, Christ's personal command 
to you personally? ' Death without mercy' is as 
terrible a punishment as can well be imagined ; but 
what must be the ' much sorer punishment ' than 
that, which is denounced by the Word of our God 
on those who, instead of merely ' despising Moses' 
law,' have ' trodden under foot the Son of God ?' 5 

We must not and dare not leave out of sight, the 
awful revelation that it is the Lord Jesus Himself, 6 
the very same tender Saviour who now bids you 
* Come,' who will take vengeance in flaming fire on 
them ' that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, 7 who shall be punished with everlasting de- 
struction from the presence of the Lord.' 8 



1 Deut. xxx. ii, 14. 2 Gen. Hi. 24. 3 Rom. v. 19. 

* Prov. i. 24-26. 5 Heb. x. 28, 29. 6 Acts i. 11. 

1 % Thess. i. 7-9. 8 Matt. xxv. 41, 46 



COMING TO CHRIST. rj 

When I began to write this little book, I never 
meant to say all this. I only wanted to win you by 
ihe sweet, sweet music of my Master's call. I only 
meant to tell you of His patient, forbearing love, 1 
waiting so long for you, wanting you to come to 
Him. 2 But what can I do ? Half a truth is not 'the 
truth. 1 You may not like it ; but I dare not speak 
to you only smooth things, 3 1 dare not shun to de- 
clare unto you the whole counsel of God 4 in this 
matter. ' I cannot go beyond the word of the 
Lord my God to do /ess.' 5 I should come under 
the awful condemnation of those who ' take away 
from the words of the book,' 6 if I did not tell the 
whole message. The Lord has said, ' Diminish not 
a word,' 7 and so I entreat you to look for yourselves 
at the passages I have quoted, and ' hear the word 
of the Lord' in them. 

Oh, ' see that ye refuse not Him thatspeaketh !'■ 
If you do not obey the ' Come unto Me,' there 
remaineth nothing for you but the ' Depart from 
Me. 



»9 



Life alone is found in Jesus, 

Only there 'tis offered thee, — 

Offered without price or money, 

'Tis the gift of God sent free: 

Take salvation, 
Take it now, and happy be. 

Albert Midlane. 

1 Rom. x. 21. 2 Rom. ii. 4. 3 Isa. xxx. 10. 

4 Acts xx. 27. Num. xxii. 18. 6 Rev. xxii. 19. 

T Jer. xxvi. 2. 8 Heb. xii. 25. 9 Matt. xxv. 41. 



52 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



SIXTEENTH DAY. 



IRo^al Xargesse. 

1 Come unto Me : and I will give you the good of the land of 
Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. . . . Also 
regard not your stuff ; for the good of all the land of Egypt is 
yours.' — Gen. xlv. 18, 20. 

( TF I become a Christian, I shall have to give up 
X so many things! n Spoken or unspoken, this 
is the invariable thought of every one who has not 
found Christ. The presence of this thought is an 
actual test as to whether you have come to Him or 
not ; for the moment you have really come, you 
will know better ! 

< Giving up ' 2 this, that, and the other, is a down- 
right unfair way of putting it ; unless, indeed, the 
magnificent gain is distinctly set against the paltry 
loss. As well talk of an oak tree ' giving up ' the 
withered leaves which have clung to the dry twigs 
all the winter, when the sap begins to rise fresh and 
strong, and the promise of all the splendour of 
summer foliage is near ! 



l Matt. xix. 22. a Phil. iii. 7. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



53 



The sons of Jacob were called away from their 
famine-stricken fields by their brother, that they 
might be ' nourished n by him, and share his pros- 
perity, and dwell 'in the best of the land ;' 2 receiv- 
ing from his hand a place and possessions far 
beyond what they had ' given up/ Of course 
they could not have all this till they had actually 
come to him ! Before they came, they had only 
his bare word for it. 3 But they considered his 
word enough, and they came; and he kept his 
word to the full. 4 

Not less, but infinitely more, does the Lord 
Jesus, our Lord and Brother, hold forth to you. Is 
His word worthy of less belief? Over and above 
the unspeakable gift of eternal life, 5 He promises to 
those who leave anything for His sake that they 
1 shall receive an hundred-fold now, in this time /'* 
Do you suppose He did not mean what He said ? 

Listen again to the twin promises, negative and 
positive, in their all-inclusive simplicity : ; No good 
thing will He withhold from them that walk up- 
rightly ;' 7 and ' The Lord will give that which is 
good.' 8 And yet your secret feeling is, that if you 
come and give yourself up to Him, you will have 
to go without all sorts of things that you fancy are 
good and nice and pleasant, and that you will find 
yourself let in for all sorts of things which do not 
seem to you ■ good ' at all ! 9 Is this fair, when he 
has said positively just the opposite ? 

1 Gen. xlv. ii. 2 Gen. xlvii. ii, 27. 3 Gen. xlvi. 31. 

* Gen. xlvii. 11, 12. 5 2 Cor. ix. 15. 6 Mark x. 30. 
J Ps. lxxxiv. 11. 8 p s . lxxxv. 12 ■■ Matt. vii. 11. 

* Ps. xxxiv. 10. 



54 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Listen again to what He says to those who have 
come, and who are His own : * Whether . . . the 
world, or life, or death, or things present, or things 
to come ; all are yours ! n What do you make of 
that ? It is not figurative, but perfectly true and 
literal. Only you will never be able to understand 
it, until the next verse is true of you : ' Ye are 
Christ's.' 2 Then another verse will be true of you : 
' Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, 
but the spirit which is of God; that we might 
know the things which are freely given to us of 
God.' 3 Ask for that blessed Spirit of God, and you 
will receive it, 4 and then you will understand. 5 

Knowing what he was purposing to do for them 
as soon as they came, Joseph naturally said to his 
brethren, ' Also regard not your stuff ; for the good 
of all the land of Egypt is yours/ 6 Take this 
advice, ' regard not your stuff ! ' However much 
you have or may have to give up for Christ, oh, do 
believe the words of His prophet : * The Lord is 
able to give thee much more than this ! ' 7 

Can you not instinctively feel what a thrill of 
deep triumphant joy there is in St. Paul's words: 
' Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
Lord ! ' 8 Did you ever feel anything like as glad as 
that ? Christ Jesus my Lord is willing and waiting 
to give that same fulness of gladness and blessing to 
every one who will take Him at His word and come 
to Him. 

1 i Cor. iii. 22. 2 i Cor. iii. 23. 3 1 Cor. ii. 12, 

4 Luke xi. 13. 5 Prov. xxviii. 5. t 4 Gen. xlv. 20. 

1 2 Chron. xxv. 9, 8 Phil. iii. 8. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 55 



Yes, to you / 



Oh, the happiness arising 

From the life of grace within, 
When the soul is realizing 

Conquests over hell and sin ! 
Happy moments ! 

Heavenly joys on earth begin. 

On the Saviour's fulness living, 
All His saints obtain delight ; 
With the strength which He is giving, 
They can wrestle, they can fight. 

Happy moments, 
When King Jesus is in sight ! 

Joseph Irons. 



SEVENTEENTH DAY. 



£arn> Wot. 

4 Come down unto me, tarry not.' — Gen. xlv. 9. 

IT is just this ' tarrying' that is hindering so many 
from coming to the Saviour. What reason 
could there be for Joseph's brethren to ' tarry,' 1 and 
go on starving a little longer in their own land, 
when Joseph was waiting to settle them and their 
father and their whole families in the land of Goshen 
* in the best of the land?' 2 And what reason can 

1 Gen. xliii. 1, 3. 2 Gen. xlvii. iz. ' 



COMING TO CHRIST, 



56 

there be for you to tarry, and go on starved and 
unsatisfied a little longer, when the Lord Jesus is 
waiting to receive you into the ' pleasant land' 1 of 
His all-satisfying love ? Why tarry in the i far 
country' 2 with the husks and the heart-loneliness? 
1 Ye shall haste ! ' said Joseph, for his heart was 
eager to do great things for them. 

If you grant the reality of Christ's love at all, do 
you not see that delay in coming down to Him, and 
hesitation in letting Him save you in His own way 
(and there is no other), and putting Him off from 
day to day, must be wounding His love? 3 

Why do you tarry ? Have you any reason what- 
ever to give Him ? 'What wilt thou say?' 4 Do not 
flatter yourself that all this delay and putting off is 
any preparation for coming, much less any part of 
coming to Him. There are no steps in coming to 
Jesus. Either you come, or you do not come. 
There is only the 'one step, out of self, into Christ. ' 
There are no gradations of approach marked out in 
His Word. If you think there are, search and see ; 
do not take my word for it ; look for yourself, and 
see what is the Lord's word about it. 5 

You have nothing to gain, but very much, per- 
haps everything, to lose by 'tarrying.' You are 
accumulating the guilt of disobedience. You are, 
it may be very unconsciously, hardening your 
heart, 6 and making the great step more and more 
difficult. Instead of being in a better position for 
coming to-morrow, you will be in a worse one. 7 

1 Ps. cvi. 24. 2 Luke xv. 13, 16. 3 Cant. v. 2, 6. 

4 Jer. xiii. 21. 5 Acts xvii. kx, 12. 6 Acts xxiv. 25. 

V Heb. iii. 7, 8. 






COMING IV CHRIST, 57 

While you are doing nothing, the enemy is very 
busy strengthening his toils around you, and they 
will be stronger to-morrow than to-day. 

While you are, as you fancy, only lying still, you 
are drifting fast down the stream into the stronger 
current, nearing the rapids, nearing the fatal fall. 

It is a question of life and death. ' Escape for 
thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in 
all the plain.' 1 It is the old story of 

1 If you tarry till you're better, 
You will never come at all.' 

I do not know any one promise in all the Bible 
for the lingerers. And if you put yourself out of 
the sphere of God's promises, what have you to 
found any hope at all upon ? 

1 Tarry not ! ,2 Oh, if I could but reach you and 
rouse you ! 

'And if I care 
For one unknown, oh how much more doth He !' 3 

For one who perishes through straightforward 
refusal, there are probably thousands who perish 
through putting off.* 'How shall we escape if we* 
refuse — no, if we merely 'neglect — so great salva- 
tion ?' 5 

Yet there is room ! The Lamb's bright hall of song, 
With its fair glory, beckons thee along. 

Yet there is room ! Still open stands the gate, 
The gate of love ; it is not yet too late. 

«— ■ * 

1 Gen. xix. 17. 2 Heb. iv. 7 3 2 Pet. iii. 9. 

* Matt. xxii. 3, 5. 5 Heb. xii. 25 ; Heb. ii. 3. 



5 8 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Pass in, pass in ! That banquet is for thee ; 
That cup of everlasting love is free. 

Ere night that gate may close, and seal thy doom ; 
Then the last, low, long cry, — * No room, no room ! ' 

Dr. H. Bona*. 



EIGHTEENTH DAY. 



Mttbout Cbrist 

'At that time ye were without Christ. , — Eph. «. 12, 

I COULD not do without Thee, 
O Saviour of the lost ! 
Whose precious blood redeemed mc 

At such tremendous cost. 
Thy righteousness, Thy pardon, 
Thy precious blood — must be 
My only hope and comfort, 
My glory and my plea. 

I could not do without Him ! 

Jesus is more to me 
Than all the richest, fairest gifts 

Of earth could ever be. 
But the more I find Him precious, 

And the more I find Him true., 



COMING TO CHRIST. 

The more I long for you to find 
What He can be to you. 

You need not do without Him, 

For He is passing by \ 
He is waiting to be gracious, 

Only waiting for your cry. 
He is waiting to receive you, — 

To make you all His own ! 
Why will you do without Him, 

And wander on alone ? 

Why will you do without Him ! 

Is He not kind indeed ? 
Did He not die to save you? 

Is He not all you need ? 
Do you not want a Saviour? 

Do you not want a Friend? 
One who will love you faithfully, 

And love you to the end ? 

Why will you do without Him ? 

The word of God is true : 
The world is passing to its doom, 

And you are passing too. 
It may be, no to-morrow 

Shall dawn for you or me, 
Why will you run the awful risk 

Of all eternity ? 

What will you do without Him 
In the long and dreary day 



59 



60 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Of trouble and perplexity, 

When you do not know the way } 

And no one else can help you, 
And no one guides you right, 

And hope comes not with morning, 
And rest comes not with night ? 

You could not do without Him, 

If once He made you see 
The fetters that enchain you 

Till He hath set you free ; 
If once you saw the fearful load 

Of sin upon your soul, — 
The hidden plague that ends in death 

Unless He makes you whole ! 

What will you do without Him 

When death is drawing near, 
Without His love — the only love 

That casts out every fear; 
When the shadow-valley opens, 

Unlighted and unknown, 
And the terrors of its darkness 

Must all be passed alone ? 

What will you do without Him 

When the great White Throne is set, 
And the Judge who never can mistake, 

And never can forget, — 
The Judge whom you have never here 

As Friend and Saviour sought, 
Shall summon you to give account 

Of deed, and word and thought ? 



COMING TO CHRIST. 6 1 

What will you do without Him 

When He hath shut the door, 
And you are left outside, because 

You would not come before ; 
When it is no use knocking, 

No use to stand and wait, 
For the word of doom tolls through your 
heart, 

That terrible < Too late ' ? 

You cannot do without Him ! 

There is no other name 
By which you ever can be saved, — 

No way, no hope, no claim ! 
Without Him — everlasting loss 

Of love, and life, and light ! 
Without Him — everlasting woe, 

And everlasting night. 

But with Him — oh ! with Jesus ! — 

Are any words so blest? 
With Jesus — everlasting joy 

And everlasting rest ! 
With Jesus — all the empty heart 

Filled with His perfect love ! 
With Jesus — perfect peace below, 

And perfect bliss above ! 

Why should you do without Him?— 

It is not yet too late ; 
He has not closed the day of grace, 

He has not shut the gate. 



6 2 COMING TO CHRIST. 

He calls you ! — hush ! He calls you I— 
He would not have you go 

Another step without Him, 
Because He loves you so. 

Why will you do without Him ? 

He calls and calls again — 
4 Come unto Me ! Come unto Me ! ' 

Oh, shall He call in vain ? 
He wants to have you with Him ; 

Do you not want Him too ? 
You cannot do without Him, 

And He wants — even you ! 



NINETEENTH DAY. 



Come Hwa\>. 

* My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my 
fair one, and come away.' — Cant. ii. 10. 

WHAT a loving call ! What astonishing con- 
descension, that the Heavenly Bridegroom 
should use such words to — whom ? Would you not 
like to be able to fill up that blank, and say, ' My 
Beloved spake, and said unto me /' 

Perhaps you think this is too much (or you. You 
feel too sinful and unworthy to be so loved, — too 
defiled to be called ' my fair one.' If so, will you 



COMING TO CHRIST. 63 

turn to a wonderful picture of those upon whom He 
sets His love, 1 and of what His love does for them, 
asking the Holy Spirit to open your eyes while you 
read it, that you may behold wondrous things out 
of it. 2 

I will not quote it here, because I want you to go 
to His own Book for it. See in it how the Lord 
Jesus goes down to the very depths, and begins at 
the very beginning. 3 Your case is not deeper than 
those depths ; for it is even when we are dead 41 in 
sins that the great love wherewith God loved us 
reaches and raises us. 5 He says, ' Awake, thou that 
sleepest, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall 
give thee light.' 6 You cannot be worse than 'dead ; ' 
and the very sense of sin and death working in 
you 7 ' is a proof ' that He has said unto you, 
' Live ! ,8 

The call to arise and come away is a proof that 
He is passing by. 9 And when Jesus passes by, He 
looks upon you, though you are not yet able to see 
Him. And He says that when He does this, it is 
'the time of love/ 10 And oh, what //to implies ! 
What will He not do, when the bright, w r arm, pow- 
erful rays of the love which passeth knowledge 11 are 
focussed upon you, and He says even to you, i My 
love ! ' giving you the glorious right to respond, ' My 
beloved ! ,12 

Read on, and see what He will do 'then ! ' ' Then ' 
the ' thoroughly' washing 13 and the anointing which 

1 Ezek. xvi. 5, 14. 2 Ps. cxix. 18. 3 Ps. xl. 2. 

4 Eph. ii. 1. 5 Eph. ii. 4, 5. 6 Eph. v. 14. 

7 Rom. vii. 13. 8 Ezek. xvi. 6. 9 Luke xviii. 3f 

10 Ezek. xvi. 8. U Eph. iii. 19. U Cant. ii. 16. 
1* Ps. Ii. 2. 



64 COMING TO CHRIST. 

prepares you for the delight of the King. 1 < Then 9 
the clothing, the girding, and the covering, each 
with their treasures of significance. 2 Then 'also 7 
the decking and the crowning, and the being made 
' exceeding beautiful ' and ' perfect through My 
comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the 
Lord God ! ' 3 When He puts the beauty of the Lord 
our God upon us, 4 then He can indeed say, ' My 
fair one ! ' 5 ' Fair ' only with His comeliness ; 6 other- 
wise the fairest natural character that was ever seen 
is 'black as the tents of Kedar/ 7 — those miserable 
goats' -hair tents, which are to this day the very type 
of the filthiest blackness. Yet with it, whatever 
your natural character, and whatever your added 
deformity through having been ' accustomed to do 
evil/ 8 you will be 'comely as the curtains of Solo- 
mon/ — the type of all that is costly and beautiful 
in colours and workmanship. 

Let Him do all this for you ! 9 Rise up and come 
away from all that pollutes and separates you from 
Him. 'Shake thyself from the dust, and arise!' 10 
'Arise, shine, for thy Light is come I ,u ' Though 
ye have lien among the pots, yet ' (when you come 
to the Light that is come so close to you), ' yet 
shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with 
silver, and her feathers with yellow gold,' 12 shining 
and gleaming as you rise and come away, resplen- 
dent in the beams of the Sun of righteousness. 18 
1 Rise, He calleth thee ! ,u ' Come away ! ' 

1 Esth. ii. 12-14. 2 I sa « l*i. IO » Ps. xlv. 13. 3 Ezek. xvi. 14. 

* Ps. xc. 17. 5 Cant. iv. 7. 6 Rom. viii. 7. 

1 Cant. i. 5. 8 Jer. xiii. 23. 9 Phil. ii. 13. 

10 Isa. lii. 2. 11 Isa. lx. 1. 12 Ps. lxviii. 13. 

13 Mai. iv. a. 14 Mark x. 49. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 6s 



TWENTIETH DAY. 



doming after 3esu0. 

'Come and follow Me.' — Matt. xix. 21. 

FOLLOWING is the only proof of coming. 1 
There is hardly a commoner lamentation 
than this : ' I do not know whether I have come or 
not ! ,2 And nobody ever says that with a happy 
smile. It is always with a dismal look; and no 
wonder ! When so much hinges upon it, — poverty 
or riches, safety or danger, life or death,— uncer- 
tainty must and will be miserable. Now, do you 
really want to know whether you have come or not ? 
Our Lord gives you the test, ' Come and follow 
Me!' 3 

If you are willing for that, willing with the will 
that issues in act and deed, then the coming is 
real. 4 

If you are not willing to follow, then you may 
dismiss at once any idea that perhaps you have 
come or are coming : there is no reality in it, and 
there is nothing for you but to go away sorrowful, 



1 Ezek. xxxiii. 31. 2 1 Kings xviii. 31. 

3 John x. 27. " * Matt. xx. 34. 



56 COMING TO CHRIST. 

as the rich young man did, who * came/ but would 
not ' follow.' 1 

The following will be just as real and definite as 
the coming, if there is any reality in you at all ; 
and if you are not deluding yourself with a deceitful 
cloudland of sentimental religion, without founda- 
tion and without substance, which is but a refuge of 
lies which the hail shall sweep away. 2 Do not sit 
down in this most serious state of uncertainty, but 
' give diligence to make your calling and election 
sure.' 3 

But you say, ' How am I to know whether I am 
following ? ' Well, following is not standing still. 
Clearly it is not staying just where you always were. 
You cannot follow one thing without coming away 
from something else. 4 Apply this test. What 
have you left for Jesus ? 5 What have you left off 
doing for His sake ? 6 If you are moving onward, 
some things must be left behind. What are ' the 
things which are behind n in your life ? If the 
supposed coming has made no difference in your 
practical daily life, 8 do not flatter yourself that you 
have ever yet really come at all. 9 Jesus says, s If 
any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, 
and take up his cross and follow Me.' 10 What light 
does that saying throw upon your case ? Be honest 
about it ; all true coming to Jesus must issue in thus 
coming after Him. 11 



1 Matt. xix. 2a. 2 Isa. xxviii. 17. 8 2 Pet. i. xo. 

4 Rom. vi. 2, 4, 13, 22. 5 Matt. iv. 18-20. 6 Matt. ix. 9. 

7 Phil. iii. 13. 8 Matt. vii. 21. * 2 Cor. v. 17. 

W Matt. xvi. 24. 11 Luke xiv. 27. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 67 

Then look at it from the positive side. He has 
left us ' an example that ye should follow His steps.' 1 
As the beautiful collect puts it, ' Give us grace that 
we may daily endeavour ourselves to follow the 
blessed steps of His most holy life.' 2 Now, what 
are those steps ? Perhaps you are not even looking 
to see what they are, let alone following them ! 
Following the steps is quite a different thing from 
thinking to follow one's own idea of the general 
direction of a course. If you would only take one 
Gospel, and read it through with the earnest pur- 
pose of noting, by the Holy Spirit's guidance, 
what the steps of Jesus are, you would soon see 
clearly whether you are following or not, 3 far more 
clearly than by reading any amount of books about 
it, or consulting any number of human counsellors. 
Take for to-day only one indication of what those 
steps were. ' Who went about doing good.' 4 Do 
your steps correspond with that ? 5 It is not, ' went 
about doing no harm/ but actively and positively 
' doing good.' 

Oh, dear friends, they are i blessed ' steps in all 
senses of the word ! For His ways are ways of 
pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. 6 Once 
fairly and fully entered, the paradox is always 
solved, the self-denial is lost in the greater joy oi 
pleasing Him, 7 the cross becomes a sceptre in 
the hand of His ' kings and priests.' 8 Then you 



1 1 Pet. ii. 21. 2 John xiii. 15. 8 Matt- xi. 29. 

4 Acts x. 38. 5 1 John ii. 6. 6 Prov. iii. 17. 

1 Phil. iii. 7. 8 Rev. i. 6. 



68 COMING TO CHRIST. 

shall 'continue following the Lord your God. n 
And the end of the following is, * that where I am, 
there shall also My servant be." 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 



Coming witb 3esu0. 

< Come with Me.' — Cant. iv. 8. 

'/"^OME away' 3 is not all that the Lord Jesus has 
v^ to say to us. * Come unto Me u and ' Come 
after Me/ 5 only lead up to the even more gracious 
invitation, ' Come with Me.' 6 

i Ye see your calling ;' 7 it is nothing less .than to 
come with Jesus. The enviable privilege of the 
twelve whom Jesus ordained ' that they should be 
with Him,' 8 is freely offered to you. Will you 
avail yourself of it? Will you come with Jesus, 
walking with Him 9 from this day every step ot tne 
way? Will you accept Him as the Guide with 
whom you will go, the Friend with whom you will 
commune by the way ? 10 It will be no dreamy or 
nominal coming with Him, if only you are willing 
to come. You will find it very real in all respects. 
You can never be so really always with any 
earthly friend as you can be with Jesus, and as you 

1 i Sam xii. 14. 2 John xii. 26 ; Rev. xiv. 4. 3 Cant. ii. 10. 

4 Matt. xi. 28. 5 Matt. xvi. 24. 6 2 Sam. xix. 33. 

7 1 Cor. i. 26 8 Mark iii. 14. 9 Rev. iii. 4, 21. 

10 John vi. 68 ; Ex. xxxiii. 14. 



COMING TO CHRIST. Qg 

will be, if you accept the invitation. 1 For there 
are two sides to that ' with. ' If you will but come 
with Him, He will come unto you and abide with 
you. 2 Your natural fear lest, even when you con- 
sent to come to be with Him, you might not re- 
main with Him, is met and completely settled by 
His promise, ' I will never leave thee.' 3 And of 
course if He never leaves you, you will always be 
with Him. And if He has said that, of course He 
will do it. 4 So do not let that objection come up 
again ! 

It is a very common experience in great things 
and small, that the person or thing we most want is 
not there just when we most want him or it. Never 
shall we have to complain of this as to the prom- 
ised perpetual presence of our Lord ; 5 for He says, 
'I will be with him in trouble.' 6 ' When thou 
passest through the waters, I will be with thee.' 7 
And in the deepest need of all, in the valley of the 
shadow of death, the soul that has yielded to 
the present call will be able to say, ' Thou art with 
me.' 8 

I do not think we consider enough how we dis- 
appoint the love of Jesus when we refuse to come 
with Him. 9 For He does truly and literally desire 
us to be with Him. 10 Would He have made it the 
very climax of His great Prayer, representing it as 
the very culmination of His own rest and glory 
that His people should be with Hi?n 9 n if He did 

1 Prov. xviii. 24. 2 John xiv. 23. 3 Heb. xiii. 5. 

* Num. xxiii. 19. 5 Matt, xxviii. 20. 6 p s . X ci. 15. 

1 Isa. xliii. 2. 8 p S- xxiii. 4. 9 Luke xiii. 34. 

10 Cant. v. 2. 11 John xvii. 24. 



y COMING TO CHRIST. 

not so very much care about it, and was only seek- 
ing and saving us out of bare pity ? No, it was in 
His love as well as in His pity that He redeemed 
us ! x And love craves nearness. This is the very 
thing that differences love from the lesser glow of 
mere pity, or kindness, whatever their degrees or 
combinations. The Lord Jesus would not say, 
' Come with Me/ if He did not feel towards us 
something far beyond any degree of pity and kind- 
ness. It is the Royal Invitation of His kingly 
love, 

But now, what are you going to do about it ? 
Hearing it, and thinking it very gracious, and all 
that, is not enough. You must come to a point 
about it. 2 You must give as definite an answer to 
this as mere common courtesy demands to any 
earthly invitation. Giving no answer is an acknowl- 
edged insult. Will you treat the King thus? And 
if not what shall your answer be? You must give 
it yourself. Christ Himself is waiting for it. 3 

There is a beautiful type 4 which tells us how a 
maiden was chosen to be the bride of the son of a 
' mighty prince' 5 in a far-off land. She was to 
answer for herself about it, and so ' they said, We 
will call the damsel and enquire at her mouth. And 
they called Rebekah, and said, Wilt thou go with 
this man ? And she said, I will go. 1 * 

Shall this be your answer to-day ? 



1 Isa. lxiii. 9. 2 1 Kings xviii. 21. 3 John vi. 67. 

4 Gen. xxiv. 5 Gen. xxiii. 6. 6 Gen. xxiv. 57, 58. 



COMING TO CHRIST, y X 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 



Gbe Xiving Mater, 

'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.' 
— John vii. 37. 

THE Invitation could not have been given in 
any wider form. Neither could it have been 
given in any form which so certainly concentrates 
all its light and warmth on one point, that point 
yourself ! 

First, there is the grand sweep of the 'any' man. 
Instead of amplifying this into a list of all possible 
varieties of 'rich or poor, old or young,' and soon, 
just never mind about these usual human para- 
phrases, which may or may not seem to include you, 
and come face to face with the magnificently simple 
word of our Lord, 'Any !' and know that it means 
l you f for you cannot possibly get outside of this 
great circle, described by the hand cf Infinite Love. 
You cannot possibly say it does not include you. 
Words mean nothing, if this word does not mean 
that you, whose eyes now rest upon it, are included 
and intended. To you the Lord Jesus says, 'Let 
him come unto Me. 7 

But another word is appended which seems at 
first sight to be a limitation. 'If any man thirst, 



72 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



let him come.' 1 Is it a limitation ? Ask your own 
heart ! Is there any one who does not thirst ? 2 In 
other words, is there any one who can say before 
God who searches the heart, 3 'I am satisfied. I 
have no sense of thirst, no nameless craving' ? Are 
you satisfied? I do not mean, are you tolerably 
contented and comfortable on the whole and in a 
general way when things are at their best ? But, 
satisfied/ — the deep under-the-surface rest and com- 
plete satisfaction of the very heart, the filling of its 
emptiness, the stilling of all its cravings ; and this 
not during the false frothing of excitement or busi- 
ness, but when you are alone, when you lie awake 
in the night, when you are shut away from any 
fictitious filling of your cup, and when the broken 
cisterns have leaked out/ as they will, and do, and 
must, — are you satisfied then? Verily, He who 
knew what was in man 5 knew that He was not nar- 
rowing the invitation when He said, 'Let him that 
is athirst, come !' 6 

Did you ever think why it is so utterly hopeless 
and useless to try to quench that inner thirst with 
anything but the living water, 'the supply of the 
Spirit of Jesus Christ' ? 7 He has said plainly and 
positively that you shall not succeed ! 8 He hath 
said, 'Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst 
again.' 9 You see there is no chance for you, for 
His word cannot be broken, and He says you 6 shall 
thirst again.' 10 There are only two issues of that 



1 Rev. xxi. 6. 2 Ps. cvii. 5. 3 Ezek. xi. 5. 

4 Jer. ii. 13. 5 John ii. 25. 6 Rev. xxii. 17 

7 Phil. i. 19. 8 John vii. 39. 9 John iv. 13. 



10 



John x. 35. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



73 



perpetual thirst. One is the unanswered entreaty 
for a drop of water, only so much as the tip of a 
finger may bear, not to quench the unquenchable 
thirst, but only to cool a flame-tormented tongue. 1 
The other, the only other, is, ' Whosoever drinketh 
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.' 2 
And lest our slow perceptions should fail to grasp 
the fact in the figure, the Lord Jesus repeats the 
promise, and says, 'He that believeth on Me shall 
never thirst.' 3 Never! for ' He satisfieth the longing 
soul.' 4 

'Let him come u?ito Me, and drink.' 5 You see 
there is only this one way of drinking of the living 
water : you must come to Jesus Himself, personally 
and really. Knowing all about it is not enough. 
Consulting Christian friends, and reading good 
books, and doing any amount of religious duties 
and exercising any amount of self-denial, will 
not stay the more or less conscious heart-thirst. 
The Lord says not a word about any channels ; He 
only says, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto 
Me, and drink.' And ' Whosoever will, let him 
take of the water of life freely.' 6 Will not you 
come? 

1 Luke xvi. 24. 2 John iv. 14. 3 John vi. 35. 

* Ps. cvii. 9. 5 John vii. 37. 6 Rev. xxii. 17. 



74 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY. 



Gbe Breafc atto Mine. 

« Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have 
mingled.' — Prov. ix. 5. 

IN several chapters of Proverbs the Lord Jesus 
Christ is beautifully described under the figure of 
Wisdom. For He is ' the Wisdom of God,' and He 
is ' made unto us Wisdom/ 1 

In this verse He gives a double Invitation, — to 
eat of His bread, and drink of His wine. These 
are the symbols of life and joy — His life and His 
joy. 

' Come, eat of My bread/ ' Feed on Him in thy 
heart by faith, with thanksgiving.' For Jesus Him- 
self is the true Bread from heaven. 2 And he that 
eateth of this Bread shall live for ever. For He 
is the Bread of Life, life-giving and life-sustaining. 3 

How shall we eat? It is the old story, — only 
coming, only believing ! For l he that cometh to 
Me shall never hunger/ 4 and ' we are made par- 
takers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our 
confidence steadfast unto the end/ 5 



1 1 Cor i. 24, 30. 2 John vi. 51. 3 John vi. 48 ; Gal. ii. 20. 

4, John vi. 35. 5 Heb. iii. 14. 






COMING TO CHRIST. 75 

It is not a mere tasting or a bare subsisting to which 
Christ invites us. He says, ' Eat, O friends ; drink, 
yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.' 1 For 'I am 
come that they might have life, and that they might 
have it more abundantly ; ,2 fulness and vigour of 
life, abounding pulses of vitality, fresh and strong; 
life that shall not and cannot fail, for 'He ever 
liveth ; ' 3 and ' because I live, ye shall live also.'* 

How often we have sung, t He hath filled the 
hungry with good things!' 5 Are you hungry? 6 
Come, eat of His bread, leaving the husks and 
ashes, and you shall know what it is to be filled 
with good things. 7 For ' He filleth the hungry 
soul with goodness.' 8 

It is not only the solid life-need of bread that is 
provided at the feast which the Lord has made for 
us, but Wine, the symbol of joy, ' that maketh 
glad the heart of man.' 9 ' Come, buy wine and 
milk without money and without price,' 10 because 
the price is already paid for it. His sorrow was the 
price of the joy offered to us. He poured out His 
soul unto death, 11 that He might pour out His joy 
into our lives. 12 He emptied the cup which His 
Father gave Him, 13 that He might fill ours till it 
runs over. u Without price to us, — but oh, the 
price to Him ! 

The Lord Jesus says it is wine which He has 
mingled. Not all one kind, but mingled by Divine 
care and skill into a perfect draught of manifold 

1 Cant. v. 1. 2 John x. 10. 3 Heb. vii. 25. 

4 John xiv. 19. 5 Luke i. 53. 6 Luke xv. 16; Isa. xliv. 30, 

7 Jer. xxxi. 14, 25. 8 Ps. cvii. 9. 9 Ps. civ. 15. 

10 Isa. lv. 1. 11 Isa. liii. 12. 12 John xv. 11. 

15johnxviii.il. 1* Ps. xxiii. 5. 



7 6 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



gladness : e If they obey and serve Him, they shall 
spend their days in prosperity, and their years in 
pleasures/ 1 That is the heritage of the servants of 
the Lord ! 2 Did you think it was so pleasant ? Did 
you know that He meant you to spend your years in 
pleasures here? as well as to give you the pleasures 
for evermore hereafter ? 4 i Come, drink of the 
wine that He has mingled/ and you will find out 
what these pleasures are, and how exceedingly real 
they are ! No wonder you are a little skeptical 
about it ! for ' eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither have entered into the heart of man, the 
things which God hath prepared for them that love 
Him; but? notice now exactly what is said, ' God 
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.^ So, 
unless or until God reveals them to you by His 
Spirit, you cannot see or conceive what these pleas- 
ures are which He has prepared for those who love 
Him, — what this wine is which He has mingled for 
those who come to Him. Oh taste and see !* 
Come and put your trust under the shadow of His 
wings ; 7 and then you shall be abundantly satisfied 
with the fatness of His house, 8 and he shall make 
you drink of the river of His pleasures. 

1 Job xxxvi. ii ; Ps. xc. 14. 2 Isa. lxv. 13, 14. 

3 Ps. iv. 7; Prov. iii. 17. * Ps. xvi. 11. 

5 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. 6 Ps xxxiv. 8. 

* Ps. xxxvi. 7, 8. 8 Ps. lxiii. 5. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY. 



77 



Mill l£ou IRot Come? 

'Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious 
also.' — Ps. lxviii. 18. 

WILL you not come to Him for life ? 
"Why will ye die, oh why ? 
He gave His life for you, for you ! 
The gift is free, the word is true ! 

Will you not come ? oh, why will you die ? 

Will you not come to Him for peace- 
Peace through His cross alone ? 

He shed His precious blood for you ; 

The gift is free, the word is true ! 

He is our Peace ! oh, is He your own ? 

Will you not come to Him for rest ? 

All that are weary, come ! 
The rest He gives is deep and true ; 
'Tis offered now, 'tis offered you! 

Rest in His love, and rest in His home. 

Will you not come to Him for joy, — 

Will you not come for this ? 
He laid His joys aside for you, 



78 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



To give you joy, so sweet, so true ! 
Sorrowing heart, oh drink of the bliss ! 

Will you not come to Him for love- — 

Love that can fill the heart, 
Exceeding great, exceeding free? 
He loveth you, He loveth me ! 

Will you not come ? Why stand you apart ? 

Will you not come to Him for all? 

Will you not i taste and see ' ? 
He waits to give it all to you ; 
The gifts are free, the words are true ! 

Jesus is calling, ' Come unto Me 1 ' 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 



Come Wear. 

'Come ye near unto Me.' — ISA. xlviii. 16. 

4 QHE obeyed not the voice ; . . . she trusted 
O not in the Lord, she drew not near to her 
God/ 1 What was her portion? 'Woe to her V 2 

i But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of 
you, though we thus speak.' 3 For Jesus says that 
if He is lifted up, He will draw all men unto Him. 4 

1 Zeph. iii. 2. 2 Zeph. iii. 1. 3 Heb. vi. 9. * John xii. 32. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



79 



And it is the Lord Jesus Himself (see context) 
who says, ' Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this I' 1 
No matter how far off you may be, this call of 
peace is to you who are far off. 2 And if you 
hearken, then shall your peace be as a river. 3 And 
if you have already come to Jesus, still He says to 
them that are nigh, ' Now ye have consecrated 
yourselves to the Lord, come near,' 4 — nearer still, 
closer and closer to the Lord who loves you. 

There is only one way of coming near or being 
made near, but that way is open for you. Not 
into the outer court of religious profession, but 
1 into the Holiest/ into the reality of most sacred 
nearness to your Lord, you may enter 'by the 
blood of Jesus.' 5 The moment you claim by faith 
the power of that precious blood, 6 — the moment 
you let your Great High Priest put it upon you, 7 
that moment l ye who sometimes were far off are 
made nigh by the blood of Christ.' 8 Then, having 
this High Priest, 9 and having this one blessed and 
unfailing means of access, ' let us draw near with a 
true heart, in full assurance of faith.' 10 

Do not be discouraged from coming near because 
you feel far off. Take that rather as your very 
claim to be included in the call, for He says, 
' Hear ye that are far off, what I have done !' n and 
take it as your very reason for coming ; come just 
because you are ' a great way off, ' for He says, 
1 They that are far off shall come.' 12 

1 Isa. xlviii. 16. 2 Isa. lvii. 19. 3 Isa. xlviii. 18. 

* 2 Chron. xxix. 31. 5 Heb. x. 19. 6 Heb. xiii. 12. 

1 Lev. xiv. 14 ; Heb. ix. 13, 14. 8 Eph. ii. 13. 

9 Heb. iv. 14. 10 Rom. v. 9 ; Eph. ill. 12 ; Heb. x. 21, 23. 

11 Isa. xxxiii. 13. 12 Zech. vi. 15. 



g Q COMING 7 CHRIST. 

If you feel very powerless about it, plead and 
claim the promise of His enabling grace, < I will 
cause him to draw near.' 1 And then you will find 
that ' blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and 
causest to approach unto Thee ; ,2 and your experi- 
ence will be, ' It is good for me to draw near unto 
God.' 3 

He who causes you to come near will keep you 
near. Joseph did not only say to his brethren, 
' Come near to me/ 4 in that moment of tenderest 
love when he made himself known to them, but his 
promise was, 'And thou shalt be near unto me.' 5 
This is your calling. Never to be far off any more ! 
Never any more distance and separation ! 6 Never 
any more wandering in the far country 7 without 
God, 8 but henceforth to be 'a people near unto 
Him ! ,9 ' No more strangers and foreigners, but 
fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household 
of God,/ 10 having found the very home of the weary 
heart, from which you shall no more go out. 11 

1 Jer. xxx. 21. 2 Ps. lxv. 4. 3 Ps. lxxiii. 28. 

4 Gen. xlv. 4. 5 Gen. xlv. 10. 6 Rom. viii. 35-39. 

7 Luke xv. 13. 8 Eph. ii. 12. 9 Ps. cxlviii. 14. 

10 Eph. ii. 19. 11 Rer. iii. 12. 



COMING TO CHRIST. % x 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. 



Go tbe inttermoat. 

' But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an un- 
changeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save 
them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.' — Heb. vii. 
24, 25. 

1 A ND suppose I do come, what then ? Suppose I 
-*^ do receive all this blessedness to-day, what 
about to-morrow ? ' Something like this thought is 
very often in the minds of those who see the lions 
not only outside but inside the doors of the House 
Beautiful. But it is all met by that wonderful word, 
' to the uttermost.' 

This does not only mean that the Lord Jesus is 
able to save out of the uttermost depth of need and 
misery and sin, and that He is able to save from the 
uttermost regions of distance and despair. It means 
all that, but more besides. It is not only bringing 
you up out of the horrible pit and miry clay, but 
setting your feet upon a rock, and establishing your 
goings. 1 

The word is one of those remarkable compound 
ones for which we have no equivalent. It means 
that He is able to save unto all completeness, unto 
the total perfection of saving. 2 

1 Ps. xl. 2. 2 Eccl. iii. 14 ; Isa. xlv. 17 ; Jer. xvii. 14. 



82 CO MI KG TO CHRIST. 

Suppose I were drowning, and you drew me out 
of the deepest water, just in time to save my life, 
but then left me wet and shivering and exhausted 
on the bank, to run the more than risk of wretched 
after-effects of cold and rheumatism, from which I 
might never entirely recover ! That would not be 
saving * to the uttermost ' in this sense of the word. 
But if you did the thing completely, — carrying me 
home, and doing everything necessary to restore me, 
and avert ill effects, and that effectually; never re- 
laxing in care and effort, nor letting me go, till you 
had me safe and well, however long and difficult it 
might be, then you would have saved me ' to the 
uttermost/ in the true meaning of it. 

This is what Jesus is able to do for you. Your 
first coming to Him is only like letting Him grasp 
you in your terrible danger, and draw you out of 
the fatal depths. But ' because He continueth ever/ 1 
always the same loving and faithful Saviour, He will 
complete what He begins. 2 For we are 'confident 
of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good 
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus 
Christ.' 3 Having saved you from destruction, His 
very name 4 is the guarantee that He will not leave 
you to struggle helplessly with your sins, much less 
to l continue ' 5 in them, but that He shall save you 
from them. 6 You will find it a daily continual sal- 
vation, by which He will keep you by the power of 
God through faith/ unto the consummated salvation 
of body and soul, ' ready to be revealed in the last 
time.' 8 

1 Heb. vii. 24. 2 1 Thess. v. 24. 3 Phil. i. 6. 

* Matt. i. ai. 5 Rom. vi. 1. 6 Ps. ciii. 3-5. 

7 2 Pet. i. 4. 8 1 Pet. i. 5. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 83 

TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 



Zfoc proof of Cbrtet'0 ability to 
Save. 

1 Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost 
that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make 
intercession for them.' — Heb. vii. 25. 

SEE what is the proof that the Lord Jesus Christ 
is able to save you thus, ' to the uttermost. ' 
It is that He ever liveth to make intercession. For 
whom ? For them ' that come unto God by Him.' 
Or, as He Himself said, in that wonderful prayer 
when He lifted the veil from His own Divine com- 
muning with the Father, and let us hear His 
mighty intercession : c Neither pray I for these 
alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me 
through their word,' 1 — thus again identifying 
1 coming ' with believing. Then, if you come, the 
perpetual intercession of our ascended High Priest 
will be for you, always for you. 2 Only think that 
this is what Jesus is now living for, — e liveth to 
make intercession' 3 for you ! Should we ever have 
dared to imagine such grace and love ? Should we 
ever have conceived that such a privilege could be 
ours? 

1 John xvii. 20. 2 Heb. iv. 14. 3 Rom. viii. 34 ; Heb. ix. 24. 



84 COMIXG TO CHRIST. 

Only think what security there must be in it ! 
If the Lord Jesus is praying for you, can you per- 
ish ? 1 If He is praying for you, will not the 
Father's answer of blessing be beyond anything 
you would ask for yourself? Is not this enough to 
answer all your misgivings as to what you will find 
and how you will get on when you have come ? 

There is a solemn side to it. He not only says 
nothing about making intercession for those who do 
not come, but He plainly and positively says, ' I 
pray not for the world, but for them which Thou 
hast given Me;' 2 the proof of having been given 
to Christ being the coming to Him, for ' all that the 
Father giveth Me shall come to Me.' 3 Then face 
the terrible position which is yours, if you will not 
come ! Christ will not pray for you ! you shut 
yourself out from the prayer of Him whom the 
Father heareth always J* He prays not for all alike, 
but only for those who receive His words. He says 
' I pray for them ; I pray not for the world.' You 
dare not and cannot explain this away. It is no 
mere inference, no question of differing ' views/ 
but spoken by Him whose words can never pass 
away. 5 Will you not •' come,' and share in this un- 
speakable privilege of Christ's intercession? 

We must not overlook the fact that it is for those 
who 'come unto God by Him.' Your coming to 
Jesus is also coming to your Father. In our right 
earnestness to have clear views of the Trinity, we 
are liable to forget the Unity of the Godhead. 6 1 
and My Father are one,' 6 saith the Lord Jesus; and 

1 John x. 28. 2 John xvii. 9. 3 John vi. 37. 

4 John xi. 42. 5 Luke xxi. 33. 6 John x. 30. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 85 

this blessed and glorious unity is our key to many 
an apparent difficulty. Yet there is a Divine order 
in the approach which we invert at our eternal 
peril. It must be ' by Him/ or it is no coming at 
all. For He hath said, ' No man cometh unto the 
Father but by Me.' 1 The redemption of Christ is 
for them ' who by Him do believe in God.' 2 You 
camiot be made nigh to God except by the blood 
of Christ. 3 You cannot reach the Father except 
through the Son, for it is through Him and in Him 
that we alone have access. 4 You cannot offer 
thanks, any more than prayer, to God, except in 
the same way, for it is ' by Him ' that we are to 
offer it. 5 In one word, you cannot be saved any 
other way at all, except by Jesus, 6 and it is no use 
talking about being simply saved by God's mercy, 
for God's own Word says, i There is none other 
name under heaven given among men whereby we 
must be saved,' 7 so that fallacy is disposed of for- 
ever. So 'diminish not a word/ 8 do not venture 
to leave out the words ' by Him/ but come in 
God's own appointed way, and you shall be saved 
in His own grand and perfect way, ' to the utter- 
most ! ' 



1 John xiv. 6. 2 1 Pet. i. 21. 3 Eph. ii. 13. 

4 Eph. ii. 18. 5 Heb. xiii. 15. 6 Rom. v. 9, : 

1 Acts iv. 12. 8 Deut. xii. 32. 



86 COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY. 



Continual Coming, 

* To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed 
of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively 
stones, are built up, a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to 
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.' 
— I Pet. ii. 4. 

<r T^O whom coming? Here is the secret of 
A advance in the narrow way, after we have 
entered by the Strait Gate. 1 It is not the having 
come once and to begin with, but the coming con- 
tinually to Jesus. When we have once really come 
to Him, it is not only our privilege, but our con- 
stant joy, to come to Him about everything — to go 
on drinking at the fountain. It is a beautiful para- 
dox which is realized and reconciled in the 
experience of those who come, that we may be 
continually coming afresh without ever going away, 
— always at the fountain-head, and yet always com- 
ing to it. 

As the first coming to Jesus gives us the true and 
only foundation, 2 so by the very same coming, con- 
tinued with ever fresh peace and joy, we shall be 
built up in Him. 3 It is as we have received Christ 
Jesus the Lord that we are to walk in Him, and 

1 Matt. vii. 14. 2 1 Cor. iii. n. % Col. ii. 6, 7. 



COMIXG 70 CHRIST. 



87 



then we shall be rooted and built up in Him. 1 
Think what this building up implies ! Coming to 
Him, you individually, as well as all who come col- 
lectively, shall be buiided together for an habitation 
of God through the Spirit, 2 that Christ may dwell 
in your hearts by faith, 3 that your bodies may be 
the temple of the Holy Ghost. 4 Coming to Him, 
you shall no longer be a loose stone, lying about and 
getting weatherworn, but you ' shall be built in the 
midst of My people/ saith the Lord. 5 

Coming to Him, you shall also be built up as a 
holy and royal priesthood. 6 For He that loved us 
and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 
hath made us kings and priests unto God. 7 What 
does this priesthood involve, which the Lord has 
c given unto you as a service of gift' ? 8 Does it not 
involve the very point on which you had a misgiv- 
ing, namely, ' if 1 do come to-day, what about to- 
morrow ?' for the priests had everything provided 
for them. 9 When they were set apart to the priest's 
office, they did not need to have a thought or a care 
about their maintenance in it all the rest of their 
lives. 10 When once this ' service of gift' was theirs, 
they were joined unto the high priest himself, and 
shared his privileges and his provision ; they were 
given to him, and he was given to them. 11 This 
provision for them was 'all the best of the oil, and 
all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, and the 
first-fruits/ besides 'all the best thereof of other 



1 1 Pet. ii. 5. 2 Eph. ii. 22. 3 Eph. iii. 17. 

4 1 Cor. vi. 19 5 Jer. xii. 16. 6 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. 

7 Rev. i. 5, 6; ib. v. 10. " 8 Num. xviii. 7. 

y Num. xviii. 9, 14. 10 Ezek. xliv- 28-30; 2 Cor. vi. 10. 
11 Num. xviii. 2, 4. 



S8 COMING TO CHRIST. 

things ; x ' for it is your reward for your service.'* 
And the Lord says, ' I will satiate the soul of my 
priests with fatness/ 3 They shall be abundantly 
'satisfied with the plenteousness of Thy house.' 4 
For ' His divine power hath given unto us all things 
that pertain unto life and godliness/ 5 

Coming to Him, you shall ' offer up spiritual 
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.' 6 
You will offer by Him the sacrifice of praise con- 
tinually ; 7 and what can the angels do more ? Con- 
tinual praise must be continual gladness. 8 And 
when you are able to say, ' O Lord, I will praise 
Thee ; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine 
anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me ; 
behold, God is my salvation ;' then, and 'therefore, 
with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of 
salvation.' 9 

This is what is before you, as soon as you come 
to Jesus. Thenceforth it shall be continual coming, 
and that will be continual rest, continual peace, 
continual joy. 10 



1 Num. xviii. 12. 2 Num. xviii. 29, 31. 3 Jer. xxxi. 14. 

4 Ps. xxxvi. 8, p.b.v. 5 2 Pet. i. 3. 

6 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; Rom. xii. 1. 1 Heb. xiii. 15. 

8 Ps. lxxi. 6, 14 ; ib. xxxiv. 1. 9 Isa. xii. 1-3. 

10 Phil. iv. 4, 6, 7. 



COMING TO CHRIST. go 



TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 



jfeUowebip anfc Cleansing. 

* Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.'— 
ISA. ii. 5. 

IT is not only the Spirit but the Bride who says, 
< Come.' 1 And it is remarkable that the Bride 
is never found saying ' Come ' without including 
herself. ' Come with us; ,2 ' Come, and let us join 
ourselves unto the LorcL; ,3 ' Come, and let us re- 
turn unto the Lord; ,4 ' Let us come boldly.' 5 It 
is always 'us/ expressed or implied, though the 
speaker be patriarch, prophet, or apostle. And 
you may be very sure that those who venture to 
'say, Come ' to you, are truly and deeply feeling 
the need of continual coming for themselves. If 
the Master's call were not sounding very fresh 
and sweet in their own hearts, they would not be 
constrained to sound it out to you. 6 

'Come ye,' then, ' and let us walk in the light of 
the Lord.' 7 This is one of the blessed results and 
tests of true following, as following is of coming. 
For the Lord says, ' He that followeth Me shall not 

1 Rev. xxii. 17. 2 Num. x. 29. 3 Jer. 1. 5. 

4 Hos. vi. 1. 5 Heb. iv. 16. 6 2 Cor. v. 14. 

7 Isa. ii. 5. 



9° 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' 1 
And the results of this walking in the light are 
fellowship and cleansing; and these, when fully 
accepted, are all that we can need for the brightest, 
happiest pilgrim course. ' If we walk in the light, 
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
another ; and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
cleanseth us from all sin.' 2 This is not merely 
fellowship with other Christians, though that, with 
all its warmth and pleasantness, is no doubt includ- 
ed. 3 But scholars tell us that the true meaning is 
that we and the Lord have fellowship with each 
other — a marvellous mutual interchange of sympathy, 
interest, and love. ' Truly our fellowship is with 
the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.' 4 Fel- 
lowship implies a good deal more than even friend- 
ship; the word is really ' communion/ in its 
widest and yet closest sense. It is literally having 
all things in common. It is the Lord saying, 
1 Thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is 
thine.' 5 It is our responding, ' My Beloved is 
mine, and I am His.' 6 It is, 'All are yours, and ye 
are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' 7 It is the present 
fact, which yet we cannot fully apprehend, 8 till ' at 
that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, 
and ye in Me, and I in you.' 9 ' Come ye, and let . 
us walk in the light of the Lord/ that this glorious 
fellowship may be ours. 10 

But there can be no fellowship without the cleans- 
ing. For how ' can two walk together, except they 

1 John viii. 12. 2 1 John i. 7. 3 1 John iii. 14. 

4 1 John i. 3. 5 Luke xv. 31. 6 Cant. ii. 16. 

? 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. 8 Phil. iii. 12. 9 John xiv. ao, 

10 Isa. ii. s ; Gen. v. 22 ; Rev. iii. 4. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



91 



be agreed? n And sin is the one great obstacle to 
this agreement. God never makes peace with sin. 2 
No armistice, no truce, no compromise is possible ! 
If you would read through Jeremiah or Ezekiel with 
your eyes open to observe what God thinks of sin, 
you would be perfectly startled. It leaves the im- 
pression that no language can convey His indignant 
loathing of ' this abominable thing which I hate.' 3 
But this one precious promise shows it all in a 
moment. ' The blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
cleanseth us from all sin ! ' 4 If anything less than 
the blood of His own Son could have cleansed us, 
would He not have spared Him ? 5 Nothing shows 
us the exceeding sinfulness of sin like this one 
word. 

But oh, thank God for the ' all ' ! As nothing 
less than the blood of Christ is needed for one 
single sin, so nothing more is needed for all sin. s 
Ask the Holy Spirit to open out this one word to 
you. 7 'AH' the sin cleansed by it, 8 — ' all' that 
separated between you and God put away by it, 9 — - 
you yourself made nigh by it, and sanctified by it, 10 — 
the fellowship will be unbroken, the light will be 
Mnclouded, the following will be faithful, 11 and the 
<coming will be sealed. 12 



1 Amos iii. 3. 2 Ps. lxvi. 18. 3 Jer. xliv. 4. 

* 1 John i. 7. 5 Rom. viii. 32. 6 Heb. ix. 22. 

7 Ps. cxix. 19. 8 Isa. lix. 2. 9 Eph. ii. 13. 

W Heb. xiii. 12. 11 Eph. v. 8. " Zech. x. is. 



9 2 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



THIRTIETH DAY. 



£be {perpetual Covenant 

' Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual 
covenant that shall not be forgotten.' — Jer. 1. 5. 

THIS is no external joining of church or congre- 
gation. ' He that is joined unto the Lord is 
one spirit.' 1 To this we are invited, 2 — to be so 
joined that nothing shall separate; 3 to be made one 
with Christ in blessed and eternal union. 4 The in- 
strument, so to speak, of the joining, is our con- 
sent, in faith and obedience, to the perpetual cove- 
nant that shall not be forgotten. 5 

Herein lies the answer to all the distressing 
doubts about persevering in which we 'err, not 
knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God/ 6 
For see what the terms of the new covenant are ! 
* I will put My laws into their mind, and write them 
in their hearts : and I will be to them a God, and 
they shall be to Me a people.' 7 This seems all one- 
sided. It is all what God undertakes to do. Not 
a word about what we undertake to do. How 
different from any human covenant ! 

1 1 Cor. vi. 17. 2 Num. xviii. 2. 3 Rom. viii. 39. 

4 Eph. v. 30; John xvii. 23. 6 Jer. 1. 5, 

* Matt xxii. 29. 7 Heb. viii. xo. 



CO MIX G TO CHRIST. 



93 



Ah, the Lord tried us with the other way, and we 
failed ; and so the old covenant of works came to 
naught. 1 It was not only the children of Israel 
who i continued not ,2 in God's covenant; we have 
done just the same. We have proved in our own 
experience that we cannot keep any one condition 
of it, let alone the whole ! 3 And so the Lord 
makes a new covenant, in which the marvellous 
terms are that He undertakes our part as well as 
His own, by promising to put His laws into our 
minds and write them upon our hearts, so that we 
may keep them and really obey them.* 

And when He says He will be to us a God, 5 He 
has promised in that one word more than mortal 
thought or mortal desire can reach. And when He 
says we shall he toHima people, 6 He guarantees us 
all the safety and happiness, and all the privileges 
and blessings, in all certainty and perpetuity, which 
He promises to His people, 7 He knows our total 
weakness, 8 and our utter inability to persevere, 9 and 
so He stoops to undertake the whole thing for us, 
if we will only ' come, and join ourselves to the 
Lord/ consenting to His perpetual covenant, and 
accepting these wonderful provisions in simple 
faith. 

But remember, there is no such thing as drifting 
into this covenant. We shall never ' happen ' to 
find ourselves included in it by waiting to see what 
\urns up, or by dint of admiringly contemplating it. 
We must ' come ; ' and we must join ourselves to 

1 Jer. xxxi. 32. 2 Heb. viii. 9. 3 Rom. iii. 19, 3.3. 

4 Isa. xxxviii. 14. 5 2 Cor. vi. 16; Rey. xxi. 3. 

6 Deut. xxxiii. 29. 7 2 Cor. i. 20. 8 p s . ciii. 14. 

9 Jude 24. 



g^ COMIiVG TO CHRIST. 

the Lord in it by our own voluntary act and deed. v 
Each must ' subscribe with his hand unto the 
Lord/ 2 This covenant requires the free individual 
signature of each participator, so that each shall be 
able to say, * Yet hath He made with me an ever- 
lasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.' 8 
Do you ask for some proof that you may thus come 
and share its blessedness? — some distinct evidence 
that the covenant is meant for you ? The Lord, 
who has given all the rest, has given this too. You 
know the freeness of the call, ' Ho, every one that 
thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' 4 That is only 
the beginning of the Invitation. It goes on, with- 
out a break, still to every one, — ' Incline your ear, 
and come unto Me ; hear, and your soul shall live ; 
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. %% 

Oh, happy day that fixed my choice 
On Thee, my Saviour and my God ! 

Well may this glowing heart rejoice, 
And tell its raptures all abroad. 

'Tis done ! the great transaction's done. 

I am my Lord's, and He is mine ; 
He drew me, and I followed on, 

Charmed to obey the Voice Divine. 

Doddridge. 



I 2 Cor. viii. 5. 2 Isa. xliv. 5. 3 2 Sam. xxiii 5. 

* Isa. lv. x. & Isa. lv. 3. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 95 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY. 



Gbe Coneummatton of tbe 
Invitation. 

' Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, 
Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world.' — Matt. xxv. 34. 

* nnHEN ! ' when the sure but as yet unseen hope 
1 of the Church is fulfilled, and Jesus comes 
in His glory i 1 ' then ! - when all are gathered before 
Him, and ' He shall separate them one from anoth- 
er:' 'then shall the King say unto them on His 
right hand, Come!' 2 

The King — ' this same Jesus/ 3 who now says, 
1 Come unto Me,' ' whom I shall see for myself, and 
mine eyes shall behold, and not another' 4 (margin, 
not a stranger) — He shall utter with His own 
gracious lips 5 the same sweet call ; and we shall hear 
it, no longer by faith, but literally. 

The call will be no longer, ' Come unto Me, all 
ye that are weary and heavy laden ;' 6 for the weari- 
ness and the burdens that have been cast upon Jesus 
will be at an end for ever. 7 It will be, ' Come, ye 



1 Tit. ii. 13. 2 Matt. xxiv. 30, 31 ; ib. xxv. 32 

3 Acts i. 11. *I ob xix - 2 7- 5 Lul 

6 Matt. xi. 28. 1 Ps. lv. 22 ; ib. xxxviii. 4. 



96 COMING TO CHRIST. 

blessed !' Not ' blessed ■ then for the first time, but 
6 ye ' whose position already is that of ' the blessed 
of the Lord. n Every one who comes to Jesus takes 
that glorious position, and possesses all its manifold 
privileges. 2 If you are only come to-day for the 
first time, ' thou art now the blessed of the Lord,' 3 
and you shall be among the blessed ones who stand 
in their lot at the end of the days. 4 You are now 
made kings and priests unto God by Him who loved 
you and washed you from your sins in His own 
blood ; 5 and then the King will call you to ' inherit 
the kingdom.' For 'by faith in Christ Jesus' 
(which is the same thing, in other words, as coming 
to Christ), you are 'the children of God.' 6 'And 
if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint- 
heirs with Christ/ 7 He will make you inherit the 
throne of His glory, and grant you to sit with Him 
in His throne, 8 for it is your Father's good pleasure 
to give you the kingdom. 9 Confess now, that this 
is doing for you exceeding abundantly above all you 
asked or thought ! 10 To be permitted just to escape 
the terrible doom of 'everlasting punishment,' 11 — 
just to get inside the door of the palace, 12 — a sort of 
standing afar off, even in heaven, — is about as much 
as you really thought of! But look at the grandeur 
of His thought, and the riches of His love for you ! 
He has prepared not only ' a place/ 13 and ' a city,' 14 
but a kingdom for you, and that not since you be- 
gan to pray for salvation, but from the foundation 

1 Ps. cxv. 15. 2 Eph. i. 3. 3 Gen. xxvi. 29. 

4 Dan. xii. 12, 13. 5 Rev. i. 5, 6. 6 Gal. iii. 26. 

1 Rom. viii. 17. 8 Rev. iii. 21. 9 Luke xii. 32. 

10 Eph. iii. 20. 11 Matt. xxv. 46. 12 Ps. xlv. 15. 

13 John xiv. 2. 1* Heb. xi. 16. 



COMING TO CHRIST. gj 

of the world. 1 And all this time this splendid and 
amaranthine inheritance has been reserved in heaven 
for you, 2 and you are being kept by the power of 
God for it ! 3 Have you thanked Him for this? It is 
not too soon to do so. 

This is indeed the consummation of the Royal 
Invitation, — the King on the throne of His glory 
inviting you to come and reign with Him !* 

And 'this same Jesus' says to you to-day, ' Him 
that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out/ 5 

Still shall the keyword ringing, echo the same sweet * Come V 
1 Come ' with the blessed myriads, safe in the Fathers home; 
'Come !' for the toil is over ; * come V for the feast is spread; 
• Come !' for the crown of glory waits for the weary head. 



1 Matt. xxv. 34 ; Eph. i. 4. 2 1 Pet. i. 4, Gr. 

• 1 Pet. i. 5. 4 R«v, v. xo. 5 John vi. 37. 



CHRIST— MY KING 



COMIA'G TO CHAIST. ioi 



FIRST DAY. 



tTbe Source of tbe Ikinssbtp. 

* Because the Lord hath loved His people, He hath made 
thee king over them.' — 2 Chron. ii. II, ix. 8. 

CHRIST said to His Father, ■ Thou lovedst me 
before the foundation of the world.' 1 At that 
mysterious date, not of time, but of everlasting 
love, God ' chose us in Him.' 2 Before the world 
began, God, that cannot lie, 3 gave the promise of 
eternal life to Him for us, and made with Him 
for us 'a covenant ordered in all things, and sure.' 4 
The leading provisions of that covenant were, a 
Lamb for our atonement, and a King for our 
government — a dying and a living Saviour. This 
God the Father did for us, and His own divine 
interest is strongly indicated in the typical words, 
'God will provide Himself a Lamb,' 5 and 'I have 
provided me a King.' 6 So the Source of the 
Kingship of Christ is God Himself, in the eternal 
counsels of His love. It is one of the grand 
< thoughts of God." 

1 John xvii. 24. 2 Eph. i. ^. 3 Titus i. 2. 

* 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. * Gen. xxii. 8. * 1 Sam. xvi. x. 

' Ps. exxxix. 17. 



102 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Having provided, He appointed and anointed 
His King: ' Yet have I set (margin, anointed) my 
King upon my holy hill of Zion.' 1 What a marvel- 
lous meeting-place is thus found in the Kingship of 
Jesus for God's heart and ours ! He says in His 
majestic sovereignty, 'I have set my K.mg;' and 
we say in lowly and loving loyalty, ' Thou art my 
King/ 2 

God has appointed His King * to be ruler over 
Israel and over Judah.' Thus He gives His 
children a great bond of union. For 'one King 
shall be King to them all/ 3 and He shall ' gather 
together in one the children of God which were 
scattered abroad.' 4 'Satan scatters, but Jesus 
gathers.' Shall we then let the enemy have his 
way, and induce us to keep apart and aloof from 
those over whom our beloved King reigns also? 
Let us try this day to recollect this, and make it 
practical in all our contact with His other subjects. 

Why has God made Jesus King? Who would 
have guessed the right answer? ' Because the Lord 
loved His people.' So the very thought of the 
Kingship of Christ sprang from the everlasting 
love of God to His people. 5 Bring that wonderful 
statement down to personal reality, — ' His people/ 
that is, you and me. God made Jesus King over 
you, because He loved you, and that with nothing 
less than the love wherewith He loved Him.* 
Which is the more wonderful — the love that devised 
such a gift, or the gift that was devised by such 
love ! Oh, to realize the glorious value of it ! 

1 Ps. ii. 6. 2 p s . xliv. 4. 3 Ezck. xxxvii. 22. 

* John xi. 52. 6 Jer. xxxi. 3. 6 John xvii. 26. 



COMING TO CHRIST. IO -j 

May we, who by His grace know something of 
God's gift of His Son as our Saviour, learn day by 
day more of the magnificent preciousness of His 
gift of His Anointed One as our King ! 



SECOND DAY. 



Zhe promise of tbe Iking. 

• I will be thy King.' — Hos. xiii. io. 

HE knows our need of a king. He knows the 
hopeless anarchy, not only of a world, but of 
a heart, ' without a king. ' l Is there a more deso- 
late cry than ' We have no king'? 2 — none to 
reverence and love, none to obey, none to guide 
and protect us and rule over us, none to keep us in 
that truest freedom of whole-hearted loyalty. Have 
we not felt that we really want a strong hand over 
our hearts? that having our own way is not so 
good as another's way, if only that other is one to 
whom our hearty and entire confidence and allegi- 
ance can be and are given ? Has there not been an 
echo in our souls of the old cry, 'Give me a king* ? — ■ 
a cry that nothing can still but this Divine promise, 
'/will be thy king! ,3 

But the promise has been given ; and now, if the 

* Hos. iii. 4. 2 Hos. x. 3. 3 Hos. xiii. 10. 



io4 



COMING TO CHRIST, 



old desolate wail of a kingless heart comes up in an 
hour of faithless forget fulness, His word comes like 
a royal clarion, l Now, why dost thou cry out aloud? 
Is there no king in thee?' 1 And then the King's 
gracious assurance falls with hushing power, ' I will 
be thy King. ' 

How glad we are that He Himself is our King! 
For we are so sure that He is able even to subdue 
all things unto Himself 2 in this inner kingdom, 
which we cannot govern at all. We are so glad to 
take Him at His word, and give up the government 
into His hands, asking Him to be our King in very 
deed, and to set up His throne of peace in the long 
disturbed and divided citadel, 3 praying that He 
would bring every thought into captivity to His 
gentle obedience. 4 

We have had enough of revolutions and revolts, 
of tyrants and traitors, of lawlessness and of self- 
framed codes. Other lords (and oh, how many !) 
have had dominion over us. 5 He has permitted us 
to be their servants, that now, by blessed and restful 
contrast, we may know His service. 6 Now we only 
want 'another King, one Jesus. ' 7 He has made 
us willing in the day of His power, 8 and that was 
the first act of His reign, and the token that 'of 
the increase of His government and peace there 
shall be no end ' 9 in our hearts. 

Lord, be Thou my King this day ! Reign more 
absolutely in me than ever before. Let the increase 



1 Mic. iv. 9. 
4 2 Cor. x. 5. 
' Acts xvii. 7. 



2 Phil. ill. 2: 
5 Isa. xxvi. 
8 Ps. ex. 3. 



3 Rom. vii. 19. 
• 3 Chron. xii. 8 
8 Isa. ix. 7, 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 105 

of Thy government be continual and mighty in me, 
so that Thy name may be glorified in me now and 
forever. 1 

Reign over me, Lord Jesus ! 

Oh, make my heart Thy throne ! 
It shall be thine forever, 

It shall be Thine alone ! 



THIRD DAY. 



allegiance to tbe Iking. 

* Thou art my King.' — Ps. xliv. 4. 

FIRST, can I say it ? 
Is Jesus in very deed and truth ' my King ' ? 
Where is the proof of it? Am I living in His king- 
dom of ' righteousness and peace and joy in the 
Holy Ghost ' now? 8 Am I speaking the language 
of that kingdom ? Am I following ' the customs 
of the people ' 3 which are not His people ? or do I 
1 diligently learn the ways of His people ' ? 4 Am I 
practically living under the rule of His laws? Have 
I done heart homage to Him ? Am I bravely and 
honestly upholding His cause, because it is His, not 
merely because those around me do so ? Is my 
allegiance making any practical difference to my 
life to-day ? 

Next, ought I to say it ? _ 

* 2 Thess. i. *2. 2 Rom. xiv. xy. * Jer. x.-3. * Jer. xii. r& 



io 6 COMING TO CHRIST. 

What ! any question about that ? The King, 
who came Himself to purchase me from my tyrant 
and His foe ; * the King, who laid aside His crown 
and His royal robes, and left His kingly palace, and 
came down Himself to save a rebel ; 2 the King, 
who, though He was rich, yet for my sake became 
poor, that I ' through His poverty might be rich/ 3 — 
ought I to acknowledge Him ? is it a question of 
' ought I ? ' God has ' called me unto His Kingdom 
and glory ; ' 4 He ' hath translated me into the king- 
dom of the Son of His love ; ' 5 and shall the loyal 
words falter or fail from my lips, 'Thou art my 
King ' ? 

Lastly, do I say it ? 

God has said to me, ' He is thy Lord, and wor- 
ship thou Him. ' 6 Do my lips say, ' My Lord and 
My God ' ? 7 Does my life say, ' Christ Jesus, my 
Lord, ' 8 — definitely and personally, ' my Lord ' ? 
Can I share in His last sweet commendation to His 
disciples, the more precious because of its divine 
dignity, i Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say 
well, for so I am ' ? 9 Have I said, 'Thou art my 
King ' 10 to Jesus Himself, from the depth of my own 
heart, in unreserved and unfeigned submission to 
His sceptre? Am I ashamed or afraid to confess 
my allegiance in plain English among His friends 
or before His foes ? n Is the seal upon my brow so 
unmistakable that always and everywhere I am 
known to be His subject? Is ' Thou art my King ' 12 



1 Acts xx. 28. 


2 Phil. ii. 7. 


s 2 Cor. viii. 9. 


4 1 Thess. ii. 12. 


5 Col. i. 13. 


6 Ps. xlv. II. 


7 John xx. 28. 


8 Phil. iii. 8. 


9 John xiii. 13. 


10 Ps. lxxxi. 15, margin. 


u Matt. x. 32. 


12 Acts iv. 13. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



I07 



blazoned, as it ought to be, in shining letters on the 
whole scroll of my life, so that it may be ' known 
and read of all men ' ? 1 

Answer Thou for me, O my King ! ' Search me 
and try me,' 2 and show me the true state of my case, 
and then for Thine own sake pardon all my past dis- 
loyalty, and make me by Thy mighty grace from this 
moment totally loyal ! For * Thou art my King." " 



» 3 



FOURTH DAY. 



©ecision for tbe Iking. 

* Ye sought for David in times past to be king over you. 
Now, then, do it.' — 2 Sam. iii. 17, 18. 



1 



N time past, when Saul was king over us, thou 



Israel.' 4 Chosen, anointed, given by God, con- 
tinually leading and caring for us, yet not accepted, 
not crowned, not enthroned by us \ 5 our real allegi- 
ance, our actual service, given to another ! 6 Self has 
been our Saul, our central tyranny; and many have 
been its officers domineering in every department. 1 
1 Ye sought for David in times past to be king 
over you.' Well we might, for the bondage of any 
other lord was daily harder. 8 Well we might, 

1 2 Cor. iii. 2. 2 Ps. xxxviii. 15, P. B. V. ; ib. cxxxix. 23. 

8 Ps. xxv. 11. 4 Sam. v. 2. 5 Ps. lxxxix. 19, 20 ; Isa. Iv. 4. 

6 Rom. vi. 16. • Rom. vii. 23. 8 Isa. xiv. 3. 



I0 g COMING TO CHRIST. 

with even a dim glimpse of the grace and glory of 
the King who waited for our homage. We sought, 
first, only for something — we hardly knew what — 
restlessly and vaguely; then for some One, who 
was not merely i the Desire of all nations/ but our 
own desire. 1 And yet we did not come to the 
point : we were not ready for His absolute monarchy, 
for we were loving and doing the will of our old 
tyrant. 2 

But ( the time past of our life may suffice us to 
have wrought the will ' of self — Satan — the world. 3 
We do not want ' to live the rest of our time ' to 
any but One Will. 4 We come face to face with a 
great NOW ! < Now, then, do it ! ' 5 < Now, then/ 
let us, with full purpose of heart, dethrone the 
usurper and give the diadem to Him ' whose right 
it is/ a blood-bought and death-sealed right. 6 

He does not force allegiance, — He waits for it. 
The crown of our own individual love and loyalty 
must be offered by our own hands. 7 We must • do 
it.' When? Oh, now ! Now let us come to Jesus 
as our King. Now let us, first in solemn heart- 
surrender, and then in open and unmistakable life- 
confession, yield ourselves to Him as our Sovereign, 
our Ruler. 

What a glorious life of victory and peace opens 
before us when this is done ! What a silencing of 
our fears lest the time to come should nevertheless 
be as the time past ! ' Now, then, do it : for the 
Lord hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of 

l Hag. ii. 7. 2 1 Kings xviii. 21 * 1 Pet. iv. 3. 

4 1 Pet. iv. 2. 62 Sam. iii. 18. • Ezek. xxi. 26, a*/ 

7 2 Sam. v. 3. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. I0 Q 

my servant David I will save my people Israel 
out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the 
hand of all their enemies.' 1 

Now, do not let us 'take away from the words' 2 
of this promise, and merely hope that our King 
may save us from some of our enemies. The Lord 
hath said, 'will save from all.' Let us trust our 
true David this day to fulfil the word of the Lord, 
and verily we shall not fail to find that according to 
our faith it shall be unto us. 3 



FIFTH DAY. 



Gbe jfirst to flDeet tbe Iking. 

' For thy servant doth know that I have sinned ; therefore, 
behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph 
to meet my lord the king.' — 2 Sam. xix. 20. 

YES, I have sinned. I know that I have sinned. 
Whether I feel it more or less does not touch 
the fact : I k?iow it. And what then ? < Therefore, 
behold, I am come the first this day of all . . . 
to meet my Lord the King.' 

Just because I know that I have sinned, I come to 
Jesus. He came to call sinners, 4 He came to save 
sinners, 5 so He came to call and to save me. ' This 
is all my desire.' 8 

1 2 Sam. iii. 18. 2 R ev . xxii. 19. 8 Matr. ix. 29. 

4 Matt. ix. 13. 5 1 Tim. i. 15. 6 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 



II0 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Just because I know that / have sinned, I may 
and must come 'the first of all.' Thousands are 
coming, but the heart knoweth his own bitterness. 1 
So, not waiting for others, not coming in order, but 
'first of all/ by the pressure of my sore need of 
pardon, I come. There is no waiting for one's turn 
in coming to Jesus. 

'The first of all/ because it is against 'my lord 
the King ' that I have sinned. I am His servant, so 
I have the greater sin. 2 ' The first of all, because 
I have so much to be forgiven, and have already 
been forgiven so much, that I must, I do, love 
much; 3 and love, even of a sorrowing sinner, seeks 
nearness, and cannot rest in distance/ 

i Therefore/ also, 'I am come this day. 9 I dare 
not and could not wait till to-morrow. No need to 
wait, even till to-night ! Now ! He is passing by, 5 
and I must ' haste to meet ' Him. 6 ' While he is 
near/ 7 I will tell Him all. 

I am come to meet Him, not merely to go to 
Him ; 8 for He is always coming to meet us. He 
was on His way before I had said, ' I will arise and 
go/ 9 I come, because He comes to me. 

Yet I could not come with this terrible knowl- 
edge that I have sinned, but that I know something 
more. I know that He hath said, ' Come unto me! 10 
I know that He hath said, ' Him that cometh I will 
in no wise cast out/ 11 This is enough; therefore I 
am come to my Lord the King. 

Not to His servants, but to Himself. Even those 

1 Prov. xiv. 10. 2 Ps. cxvi. 16. 3 Luke vii. 47. 

4 Col. ii. 13. 5 Matt. xx. 30. 6 2 Sam. xix. 16. 

* Isa. lv. 6. 8 Zech. ix. 9. 9 Luke xv. 18. 

K> Matt. xi. 28. 11 John vi. 37. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. IIX 

who stand near Him may accuse and condemn, but 
the King Himself will receive me graciously ; 1 for 
with Him there is forgiveness, and mercy, and 
plenteous redemption. 2 

And though the oath of an earthly sovereign may 
be broken, my King (in glorious contrast to the 
imperfect human type) 'keepeth His promise 
for ever. ' 3 His covenant will He not break, nor 
alter the thing that is gone out of His lips. 4 There- 
fore the eternal life which He hath promised me is 
secured to me forever, for He hath said, 5 < I give 
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, 
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.' 6 



SIXTH DAY. 



£be Confcescenston of tbe 1kin$* 

* Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.' — Zech. ix. 9. 

THAT our King should let us come to Him is 
condescension indeed. But have we praised 
Him for His still more wonderful condescension : 
1 Thy King cometh unto thee 1 ? 7 c Unto thee, 9 rebel, 
traitor, faithless subject, coward and cold-hearted 
follower ; for where is the life that has not fallen 

1 Hos. xiv. 2. 2 p Si cxxx. 4, 7. 3 p s . cxlvi. 5. (p. B. V.) 

4 Ps. lxxxix. 34. 6 1 John ii. 25. 6 John x. 28. 

* Isa. xlviii. 8. 



II2 COMING TO CHRIST. 

under these charges, when seen in the double light 
of the King's perfect law and the King's great 
love ? Yes, he cometh unto thee, and it is enough 
to break our hearts when we get one contrasted 
glimpse of this undeserved grace and unparalleled 
condescension. 

His great promise has had its first fulfilment 
'unto thee.' It is a finished fact of sevenfold 
grace. Thy King has come, and His own voice 
has given the objects of His coming, — ' to do Thy 
will, O God j 1 ' to fulfil ' the law ; 2 * to call sinners 
to repentance ; ,s ' to seek and to save that which 
was lost ;' 4 ' that they might have life, and that 
they might have it more abundantly ;' 5 ' a light 
into the world, that whosoever believeth on me 
should not abide in darkness. ' 6 What He came to 
do He has done, for 'He faileth not. 1 T On this 
we may and ought to rest quietly and undoubt- 
ingly, for ' the Lord hath done it.' 8 

But you want a further fulfilment, — you want a 
present coming of your King. You have His most 
sweet word, 'I will come to you;' 9 and you 
respond, 'Oh, when wilt Thou come unto me? ' 10 
Are you ready to receive the King's own answer 
now? Do you so desire His coming, that you 
do not want it postponed at all ? Can you 
defer all other comers, and say in reality, ' Let my 
Beloved come ' ? n 

He has but one answer to that appeal. Hush ! 

1 Heb. x. 9. 2 Matt. v. 17. 3 Matt. ix. 13. 

4 Luke xix. 10. 5 John x. 10. 6 John xii. 46. 

7 Zeph. iii. 5. 8 Isa. xliv. 23. 9 John xiv. 18. 

10 Ps. ci. 2. n Cant. iv. 16. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. TI ^ 

listen ! believe ! for the King speaks to you : < I 
am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse.' 1 
He is come. Do not miss the unspeakable blessing 
and joy of meeting Him and resting in His presence, 
by hurrying away to anything else, by listening to 
any outward call. 2 Stay now, lay the little book 
aside, kneel down at your King's feet, doubt not 
His word, which is 'more sure* than even the 
' excellent glory' 3 that apostles beheld, and thank 
Him for coming to you. Commune with Him now 
of all that is in your heart, 4 and ' rejoice greatly/ 
for, ' behold, thy King cometh unto thee.' 

1 Jesus eomes to hearts rejoicing, 
Bringing news of sin forgiven ; 
Jesus comes in sounds of gladness, 
Leading souls redeemed to heaven. 

* Jesus comes again in mercy, 

When our hearts are bowed with care ; 
Jesus comes again, in answer 
To an earnest, heartfelt prayer.' 

Godfrey Thring. 



1 Cant. v. i. 2 Cant. ii. 3. 

* • Pet. i. 19. * x Kings x. 2. 



U4 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



SEVENTH DAY. 



Zhc lirtwellina of tfce Iking* 

* Is not her King in her? ' — Jer. viii. 19. 

WAITING for a royal coming, — What expec- 
tation, what preparation, what tension ! A 
glimpse for many, a full view for some, a word for 
a favoured few, and the pageant is over like a dream. 
The Sovereign may come, but does not stay. 

Our King comes not thus : He comes not to pass, 
but to ' dwell in the midst of thee; n not only in 
His Church collectively, but in each believer in- 
dividually. 2 We pray, ' Abide with us,' 3 and He 
answers in the sublime plural of Godhead, { We 
will come unto him, and make our abode with 
him.' 4 Even this grand abiding with us does not 
extend to the full marvels of His condescension and 
His nearness, for the next time He speaks of it He 
changes the 'with' to 'in/ and thenceforth only 
speaks of ' I in you/ ' I in him/ ' I in them.' 5 

Now do not let us say, < How can this be ?' 6 but, 
like Mary, 'How shall this be?' 7 The means, 

1 Zech. ii. 10. 2 2 Cor. vi. 16. 3 Luke xxiv. 29, 

4 John xiv. 23. 5 John xv. 4, 5; ib. xvii. 23. 

6 John iii. 9. 7 Luke i. 34. 



COMING TO CHRIST. ug 

though not the mode, of the mystery is revealed 
for our grasp of adoring wonder : ' That Christ may 
dwell in your heart by faith.' 1 It is almost too 
wonderful to dare to speak of. Christ Himself, my 
King, coming to me, into me ! abiding, dwelling in 
my very heart ! Really staying there all day, all 
night, wherever I am, whatever I am doing ; here in 
my poor unworthy heart at this very moment [ 
And this only because the grace that flowed from 
His own love has broken the bars of doubt, and 
because He has given the faith that wanted Him 
and welcomed Him. Let us pause a little to take 
it in! 

The more we have known of the plague of our 
own heart, 2 the more inconceivably wonderful this 
indwelling of Christ will appear, — much more 
wonderful than tnat He chose a manger as His 
royal resting-place, 3 for that had never been defiled 
by sin, and had never harboured His enemy. It is 
no use trying to comprehend this incomprehensible 
grace of our King, — we have only to believe His 
promise, saying, 'Amen ; the Lord God of my Lord 
the King says so too/ 4 

There should be three practical results of this 
belief: — i. Holiness. We must see to it that we 
resolutely 'put away' 5 all that ought not to be in 
His royal abode. 6 ' Having, therefore, these prom- 
ises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from 
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting 
holiness in the fear of God.' 7 2. Confidence. 

l Eph. iii. 17. 2 j Kings viii. 38. 3 Luke ii. 7. 

* 1 Kings i. 36. 5 Eph. iv. 31. 6 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. 

'2 Cor. vii. 1. 



I 26 COMING TO CHRIST. 



What does the citadel fear when an invincible gen- 
eral is within it ? ' The Lord thy God in the midst 
of thee is mighty ; He will save.' 1 He is ' the wall 
of fire round about/ and ' the glory in the midst of 
her;' 2 and ' he that toucheth you toucheth the 
apple of His eye.' 3 3. Joy. Yes ! ' Be glad and 
rejoice with all the heart/ 4 ' sing and rejoice, O 
daughter of Zion ; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell 
in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.' 5 






EIGHTH DAY. 






Ifull Satisfaction in tbe Iking. 

* Yea, let him take all, for as much as my lord the king is 
come again in peace to his own house.' — 2 Sam. xix. 30. 

IT is when the King has really come in peace to 
His own home in the c contrite and humble 
spirit ,6 (not before), — when He has entered in to 
make His abode there 7 (not before), — that the soul 
is satisfied with Him 8 alone, and is ready to let any 
Ziba take all else, because all else really seems 
nothing at all in comparison to the conscious posses- 
sion of the Treasure of treasures. 9 
, Sometimes this is reached at once, in the first flush 
of wondering joy at finding the King really 'come 
in peace ,10 to the empty soul which wanted to be 

1 Zeph. iii. 17. 2 Zech. ii. 5. 3 Zech. ii. 8. 

4 Zeph. iii. 14. 5 Zech. ii. 10. 6 Isa. lvii. 15. 

7 John xiv. 23. * Ps. xxii. 26. 9 Matt. xiii. 46. 
*° Isa. xxxiii. 6. 



COMING TO CHRIST. ny 

% His own house.' 1 Sometimes very gradually, — as 
year after year we realize His indwelling more and 
more, and find again and again that He is quite 
enough to satisfy us in all circumstances ; that the 
empty corners of the * house ' are filled one after 
another ; that the old longings have somehow gone 
away, and the old ambitions vanished ; that the old 
tastes and interests in the things of the world are 
superseded by stronger tastes and interests in the 
things of Christ; that He is day by day more 
really filling our lives, 2 — we ' count ' (because we 
really find) one thing after another 'but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
Lord,' 3 till He leads us on to the rapturous joy of 
the 'Yea, doubtless,' and '0// things ! ' 

Now, have we got as far as saying c some things, ' 
without being quite sure about ' all things ' ? Do 
you see that it all hinges upon Jesus coming into 
the heart as 'His own house/ — altogether 'His 
own ' ? 4 For if there are some rooms of which we 
do not give up the key, — some little sitting-room 
which we would like to keep as a little mental 
retreat, with a view from the window, which we do 
not quite want to give up, — some lodger whom we 
would rather not send away just yet, — some little 
dark closet which we have not resolution to open 
and set to rights, — of course the King has not full, 
possession ; it is not all and really ' His own ; ' and! 



l Heb. iii. 6. 2 £ph. i. 23. 

* Phil. iii. 8. * Acts xxvi. 29. 



XI g COMING TO CHRIST. 

the very misgiving about it proves that He has 
therefore not yet ' come again in peace.' It is no 
use expecting * perfect peace/ 1 while He has a secret 
controversy 2 with us about any withholding of 
what is 'His own ' 3 by purchase. Only throw open 
tf//the doors, 4 'and the King of Glory shall come 
in/ 5 and then there will be no craving for other 
guests. He will i fill this house with glory,'* and 
there will be no place left for gloom. 

Is it not so ? Bear witness, tell it out, you with 
whom the King dwells in peace ? Life is filled with 
bright interests, time is filled with happy work or 
peaceful waiting, the mind is filled with His beauti- 
ful words and thoughts, the heart is filled with His 
presence, and you ' abide satisfied ,7 with Him ! 
Yes, < tell it out ! ' 

The human heart asks love ; but now I kno^ 
That my heart hath from Thee 
All real, and full, and marvellous affection, 
So near, so human ! yet Divine perfection 
Thrills gloriously the mighty glow ! 

Thy love is enough for me ! 

There were strange soul-depths, restless, vast and broad, 

Unfathomed as the sea ; 
An infinite craving for some infinite stilling; 
But now Thy perfect love is perfect filling ! 
Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God, 

Thou, Thou art enough for me. 

1 Isa. xxvi. 3. 2 Mic. vi. 2. 3 Acts v. 2. 

4 Rev. iii. 20. 5 Ps. xxiv. 9. 6 Hag. ii. 7. 

* Prov. xix. 23,, 



COMING TO CHRIST. \ 19 



NINTH DAY. 



Vaz Sorrow of tbe Iking. 

'The king himself also passed over the brook Kidron. ,1 — 
2 Sam. xv. 23. 

C TESUS went forth with His disciples over the 
J brook Cedron. ,2 How precisely the Old Testa- 
ment shadow corresponds with the New Testament 
fulfilment ! The King, in sorrow and humiliation, is 
here brought before us, passing from his royal home, 
from all his glory and gladness, — passing over into 
exile and unknown distresses. 3 

There is no need for imagination in dwelling on 
His sorrows. The pathos of the plain words 
is more than enough ; no pen has power to 
add to it. Let us listen to them just as they stand, 
— not hurrying over them because they are only 
texts, and we know them all beforehand ; they are 
the Holy Ghost's sevenfold testimony to the sorrow 
of the King. 

' A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief/ 4 
1 1 am poor and sorrowful.' 5 < The sorrows of death 

1 Kidron means ■ obscurity '; Cedron is ' black ' or ' sad.' 

2 John xviii. i. 3 2 s am . xv iii. 20> 
4 Isa. liii. 3. 5 p s . lxix. 29, 



12Q COMING TO CHRIST. 

compassed me.' i The sorrows of hell compassed 
me.' 1 ' Behold and see if there be any sorrow like 
unto my sorrow.' 2 ' He began to be sorrowful and 
very heavy.' 3 * My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death.' 4 Oh, stay a little that you may 
take it in ! hear Jesus saying to you, ' Hear, I pray 
you, and behold my sorrow? ' 5 

' Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our 
sorrows.' 6 The sorrows of the past, the very sorrow 
that may be pressing heavily at this moment ; all 
yours, all miue; all the sorrows of all His children 
all through the groaning generations ; all that were 
* too heavy n for them, — Jesus bore them all. ' Is 
it nothing to you?' 8 It is when the Lord says, 
' Now will I gather them ' ( the rebels and wander- 
ers), that Headds, ' And they shall sorrow a little for 
the burden of the King of princes.' 9 Have we this 
proof that He has indeed gathered us? For W/the 
people,' except the rebels, 'passed over with the 
king.' 10 Do we know anything of this passage over 
Cedron, the brook of sadness, with Him? Possibly 
it seems presumptuous to think of sharing 'the 
fellowship of His sufferings/ 11 that mysterious privi- 
lege! But mark, it was not only the mighty Ittai 
and 'all his men/ the nobles and the veterans, that 
passed over, but ' all the little ones that were with 
him ,12 too. And so 'the little ones, the weak 
ones/ 13 the least member of His body, may thus 

1 Ps. xviii. 4, 5. 2 Lam. i. 12. 3 Matt. xxvi. 37. 

4 Matt. xxvi. 38. 5 Lam. i. 18. 6 Isa. liii. 4. 

7 Ps. xxxviii. 4. 8 Lam. i. 12. 9 Hos. viii. 10. j 

M 2 Sam. xv. 23. 11 Phil. iii. 10. 12 2 Sam. xv. 23*1 
I 3 1 Cor. xii. 26, 27. / 



COJf/XG TO CHRIST. I2 I 

1 continue with* 1 Jesus; and nothing brings one 
closer to another than a shared sorrow. 

But look forward ! Because He has drunk i of 
the brook in the way, therefore shall He lift up the 
head.' 2 Already the ' exceeding sorrowful ' 3 is ex- 
changed for ' Thou hast made Him (the King) 
exceeding glad;' 4 and w r hen the ransomed and 
gathered of the Lord shall return with everlasting 
joy, 5 ' their King also shall pass before them.' 6 



TENTH DAY. 



<5oirt9 tfortb witb tbe Iking. 

1 The king said, Wherefore wentest thou not with me 1 * — 
2 Sam. xix. 25. 

<^tX7TTH me! ' 7 To be with our King will be 
VV our highest bliss for eternity; and surely 
it is the position of highest honour and gladness 
now. But if we would always be with Him, we 
must sometimes be ready to go with Him. 8 

' The Son of God goes forth to war ' now-a-days. 
Do we go with Him? His cross is ' without the 
gate/ Do we go ' forth unto Him without the 
camp, bearing His reproach ' ? 9 Do we really go 
with Him every day and all day long, following 
'the Lamb whithersoever He goeth'? 10 What 

1 Luke xxii. 28. 2 p s . ex. 7. 3 Matt. xxvi. 38. 

* Ps. xxi. 6. 5 Isa. xxxv. 10. 6 Mic. ii. 13. 

? John xvii. 24. 8 1 Thess. iv. 17. 9 Heb. xiii. 12. 13. 
*° Rev. xiv. 4. 



I2 2 COMING TO CHRIST. 

about this week — this day ? Have we loyally gone 
with our King wherever His banner, His footsteps, 
go before ? * 

If the voice of our King is heard in our hearts, 
' Wherefore wentest thou not with me ? ' — thou who 
hast eaten ' continually at the King's table/ 2 — thou 
who hast had a place among ' the King's sons/ 3 — 
thou unto whom the King has shown ' the kindness 
of God/ 4 we have no ' because ' to offer. He 
would have healed the spiritual lameness that 
hindered, 5 and we might have run after Him. 
We are without excuse. 

It is only now that we can go with Jesus into con- 
flict, suffering, loneliness, weariness. It is only 
now that we can come to the help of the Lord 
against the mighty 6 in this great battlefield. Shall 
we shrink from opportunities which are not given 
to the angels? Surely, even with Him in glory, 
the disciples must ' remember the words of the Lord 
Jesus, how he said ' 7 to them, ' Ye are they which 
have continued with me in my temptations/ 8 with 
a thrill of rapturous thanksgiving that such a privi- 
lege was theirs. 

There will be no more suffering with Him in 
heaven, only reigning with Him ; 9 no more fighting 
under His banner, only sitting with Him on His 
throne. 10 But to-day we may prove our loving and 
grateful allegiance to our King in the presence of 
His enemies, by rising up and going forth with 

1 i Pet. ii. 21. 2 2 Sam. ix. 13. 3 2 Sam. ix. 11. 

4 2 Sam. ix. 3. 5 2 Sam. xix. 26. 6 Judges v. 23. 

< .Acts xx. 35. 8 Luke xxii. 28. 9 2 Tim. ii. 12. 
10 Rev. iii. 21. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 12 t > 

Him, — forth from a life of easy idleness or selfish 
business, — forth into whatever form of blessed fellow- 
ship in His work, His wars, or, it may be, of His 
sufferings, the King Himself may choose for us. 1 
We have heard His call, ' Come unto me.' To-day 
He says, l Come with me.' 2 

True-hearted, whole-hearted ! Faithful and loyal, 
King of our lives, by Thy grace we will be ! 

Under Thy standard exalted and royal, 

Strong in Thy strength we will battle for Thee. 



ELEVENTH DAY. 



Gbe Smiting of tbe Iking. 

* I will smite the king only.' — 2 Sam. xvii. 2. 

IT may be that this futile threat of a wicked man 
against the king was like the saying of Caia- 
phas, — l not of himself/ 3 but written for our learn- 
ing < more about Jesus. ' 4 A deadly stroke was to 
be aimed at ' the king only,' for he was ' worth ten 
thousand ' of the people ; 5 if he were smitten, they 
should escape. Do the words of David in another 
place tell of his great Antitype's desire that it 
should be so? < Let Thine hand, I pray Thee, O 
Lord my God, be on me, . . . but not on Thy 
people. ' 6 ' For the transgression of my people was 

1 2 Cor. vi. i ; Phil. iii. 10. 2 Cant. iv. 8. 3 John xi. 51. 

* Rom. xv. 4. 5 Cf. 1 Kings xxii. 31 ; 2 Sam. xviii. 3. 

6 1 Chron. xxi. 17. 



124 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



the stroke upon Him ' 1 {margin) ; therefore not 
upon us, never upon us. The lightning that strikes 
the conductor instead of the building to which it is 
joined, has spent its fiery force and strikes no more. 

Not the hand of an impotent foe, but the sharp 
sword of the omnipotent Lord of hosts, was lifted 
to smite His Shepherd, — our Shepherd-king, 2 The 
Great, 3 The Chief, 4 The Good 5 (and The Beautiful, 
as the original implies). Think of the words, 
' stricken, smitten of God/ 6 with their unknown 
depths of agony, and then of Jesus, Him whom we 
love, 7 fathoming those black depths of agony alone / 
6 Jesus, smitten of God V 8 can we even say the words, 
and not feel moved as no other grief could move 
us? Do not let us shrink from dwelling upon it ; 
let us rather ask the Holy Spirit, even now, to show 
us a little of what this awful smiting really was, — 
to show us our dear Lord Jesus Christ, in this tre- 
mendous proving of His own and His Father's love, 
— to whisper in our hearts as we gaze upon the 
Crucified One, ' Behold your King ! ' 9 

6 The King only.' For, ' by Himself He purged 
our sins.' 10 Certainly we had nothing to do with it 
then ! Certainly no other man or means had any- 
thing to do with it ! and certainly nothing and no 
one now can touch that great fact, so far out of 
reach of human quibbling and meddling, that 
Jesus, ' His own self, bare our sins in His own body 
on the tree. ' u Is not the fact that He ' with whom 



3 Heb. xiii. 20. 
6 Isa. liii. 4. 
9 John ix. 14. 



l Isa. liii. 8. 


2 Zech. xiii. 7 


4 1 Pet. v. 4. 


5 John x. 11. 


7 1 Pet. i. 8. 


8 Isa. lxiii. 3. 


10 Heb. i. 3. 


" 1 Pet. ii. 24. 



CO MIX G TO CHRIST. 125 

we have to do, 7 1 was smitten of God instead of us, 
enough ? What else can we want to guarantee our 
salvation ? 

1 The King only. 9 For the sorrow of our King is 
shared with His people; but in the smiting we 
have no part. We can only stand ' afar off/ 2 bowed 
and hushed in shuddering love, as the echoes of the 
awful stripes that fell on Him float down through 
the listening centuries, while each throb of the 
healed heart replies, ' For me ! for me ! ' 3 

1 I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the 
people there was none with me.' * 



TWELFTH DAY. 



Gbe IRinsbip of tbe Iking, 

'The king is near of kin to us/ — 2 Sam. xix. 42. 

NOT only in the Prophet raised up ' from the 
midst of thee, of thy brethren/ 5 and in the 
High Priest, ' thy brother/ 6 'taken from among 
men/ 7 do we see the kinship of Christ ; but in the 
divinely chosen King the same wonderful link is 
given — ' One from among thy brethren shalt thou 
set king over thee : thou mayest not set a stranger 
over thee, which is not thy brother.' 8 

1 Heb. iv. 13. 2 Matt, xxvii. 55. 3 Isa. liii. 5. 

4 Isa.lxiii. 3. 5 Deut. xviii. 15. 6 Ex. xxviii. r. 

' Heb. v. 1. 8 Deut. xvii. 15. 



I2 6 COMING TO CHRIST. 



How very close this brings us to our glorious 
Lord ! And yet, when we have exhausted all that 
is contained in the very full and dear idea of 
1 brother/ we are led beyond, to realize One who 
' sticketh closer than a brother,' 1 because no earthly 
relationship can entirely shadow forth what Jesus is, 
And whatever relationship we most value or most 
miss, will be the very one which, whether by posses- 
sion or loss, will show us most of Him, and yet fall 
short of His ' reality.' For we always have to go 
beyond the type to reach the antitype. 

The King is so ' near of kin/ that we may come 
to Him as the tribes of Israel did, and say, ' Behold, 
we are Thy bone and Thy flesh ; ' 2 finding many a 
Bweet endorsement of the type in His word. So 
near of kin, that He is ' in all things' ' made like 
unto His brethren ; ' * and whatever is included 
in the flesh and blood of which we are partakers, 
sin only excepted, ' He also Himself likewise took 
part of the same.' 4 

So 6 near of kin to us/ and yet God ! Therefore 
every good thing that we find in near human relation- 
ships, we shall find in Jesus in the immeasurable 
proportion of the divine to the human. Is not this 
worth thinking out, each for ourselves? — worth 
seeking to enter into? 

But will He acknowledge the kinship ? He hath 
said, ' Whosoever shall do the will of my Father 
which is in heaven, the same is my brother and 
Bister and mother.' 6 ' How beautiful to be Christ's 
little sister ! ' said a young disciple. For of course 

1 Prov. xviii. 24. 2 2 Sam. v. 1. 3 Heb. ii. 17. 

4 Heb. ii. 14. 5 Matt. xii. 50. 



2 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



127 



He really means it. Will not this make our prayer 
more fervent, ' Teach me to do Thy will ' p 1 

If the King is indeed near of kin to us, the royal 
likeness will be recognizable. Can it be said of 
us, 'As thou art, so were they; each one resembled 
the children of a king ' ? ' Nor let us shrink from 
aiming at the still higher standard, l The King's 
daughter is all glorious within. 1 * 

We must not dwell only on a one-sided kinship. 
If * He is not ashamed to call ' us ' brethren,' 4 shall 
we ever be ashamed to call Him Master? If He 
is ready to give us all that is implied or involved in 
near kinship, should we fail to reciprocate with all 
the love and sympathy and faithfulness which the 
tie demands on our side ? 

Also, if we do realize this great privilege, let us 
prove our loyal love to our Brother-King by ' look- 
ing for and hasting unto the coming of the day' 5 
of His return. Let us not incur the touching 
reproach, ' Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones 
and my flesh : wherefore then are ye the last to 
bring back the King?' 6 

Joined to Christ in mystic union, 
We Thy members, Thou our Head, 

Sealed by deep and true communion, 
Risen with Thee, who once were dead. 

Saviour, we would humbly claim 

All the power of this Thy name. 

Instant sympathy to brighten 

All their weakness and their woe, 
Guiding grace their way to lighten, 
Shall Thy loving members know, 



1 IfcfS*' IO * \ Ju i ges viii - i8 - 3 Ps- *lv. 13. 

Heb ' "■ "' 6 2 Pet. iii. 18. • 2 Sam. xix. 12. 



128 COMING TO CHRIST. 

All their sorrows Thou dost bear, 
All Thy gladness they shall share. 

Everlasting life Thou givest, 

Everlasting love to see ; 
They shall live because Thou livest, 

And their life is hid with Thee. 
Safe Thy members shall be found, 
When their glorious Head is crowned! 



THIRTEENTH DAY. 



£be Desire of tbe Iking. 

' So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.' — Pa xlv« IX* 

CAN this be for us ? What beauty have we that 
the King can desire? For the more we have 
seen of His beauty, 1 the more we have seen of our 
own utter ugliness. What, then, can He see ? 
6 My comeliness which I had put upon thee/ 2 
* The beauty of the Lord our God upon us.' 3 For 
'He will beautify the meek with salvation.' 4 And 
so the desire of the King is set upon us. 

Perhaps we have had the dreary idea, * Nobody 
wants me ! ' We never need grope in that gloom 
again, when the King Himself desires us ! This 
desire is love active, love in glow, love going forth, 
love delighting and longing. It is the strongest 

1 Isa. vi. 5. 2 Ezek. xvi. 14. 3 p s> xc# I7# . 4 p s , cxlix. 4. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



I29 



representation of the love of Jesus, — something far 
beyond the love of pity or compassion ; it is taking 
pleasure in His people; 1 delighting in them; 2 
willing (*. e. putting forth the grand force of His 
will) that they should be with Him where He is, 
with Him now, with Him always. 3 It is the love 
that does not and will not endure separation, — the 
love that cannot do without its object. 6 So shall 
the King desire thy beauty/ 

He gave us a glimpse of this gracious fervour 
when He said, ' With desire I have desired to eat 
this passover with you before I suffer. ' 4 With 
Gethsemane and Calvary in fullest view, His heart's 
desire was to spend those few last hours in closest 
intercourse with His disciples. ' So ' did He desire 
them. 

Now, if we take the King at His word, and really 
believe that He thus desires us, can we possibly 
remain cold-hearted and indifferent to Him ? Can 
we bear the idea of disappointing His love, — such 
love, — and meeting it with any such pale, cool 
response as would wound any human heart, ' I do 
not know whether I love you or not ! ' 

Oh, do let us leave off morbidly looking to see 
exactly how much we love (which is just like trying 
to warm ourselves with a thermometer, and perhaps 
only ends in doubting whether we love at all), and 
look straight away at His love and his desire! 5 
Think of Jesus actually wanting you, really de- 
siring your love, not satisfied with all the love of all 
the angels and saints unless you love him too, — 
■• « 

1 Ps. cxlix. 4. 2 l sa< Ixii. 4. 3 John xvii. 24; ib. xii. 26, 

* Luke xxii. 15. 6 Heb. xii. 2.'- . 



!3 COMING TO CHRIST. 

needing that little drop to fill His cup of joy ! Is 
there no answering throb, no responsive glow? 

' Lord, let the glow of Thy great love 
Through my whole being shine ! ' 

Perhaps it is upon the emphatic 'so? as pointing 
^ to the context, that the intensity of the emphatic 
p 'greatly 9 hinges. It is when the bride forgets her 
own people and her father's house, 1 — that is, when 
her life and love are altogether given to her Royal 
Bridegroom, — that He ' shall greatly desire ' her 
beauty. When His glorious beauty has so filled our 
eyes, and His incomprehensible love has so filled 
our hearts, 2 that He is first, and most, and dearest 
of all, — when we can say not merely, ' The desire 
of our souls is to Thy name,' 3 but ' There is none 
upon earth that I desire beside Thee/ 4 — when thus 
we are, to the very depth of our being, really and 
entirely our Beloved's, then we may add, in solemn, 
wondering gladness, 'And His desire is toward 
me.' 5 

O love surpassing thought, 
So bright, so grand, so clear, so true, so glorious ; 
Love infinite, love tender, love unsought, 

Love changeless, love rej oicing, love victorious ! 
And this great love for us in boundless store ; 
Christ's everlasting love ! What wouldst thou more ? 

1 Ps. xlv. 10. 2 Eph. iii. 19. 3 Isa. xxvi. 8. 

4 Ps. lxxiii. 25. 5 Cant. vii. 10. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



131 



FOURTEENTH DAY. 



Gbe Sceptre of tbe Iking, 

* The king held out the golden sceptre.' — Esth. viii. 4. 

JESUS is He 'that holdeth the sceptre,' 1 — the 
symbol first of kingly right and authority, and 
next of righteousness and justice. 'A sceptre of 
righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom/ 2 — 'a 
right sceptre.'" And yet the golden sceptre was 
held out as the sign of sovereign mercy to one who, 
by * one law of his to put him to death/ must other- 
wise have perished, ' that he may live.' 4 Thus, by 
the combination of direct statement and type, we 
are shown in this figure the beautiful, perfect meet- 
ing of the ' mercy and truth' of our King, the 
6 righteousness and peace ' of His kingdom. 5 

Again and again the Holy Ghost repeats this 
grand blending of seemingly antagonistic attributes, 
confirming to us in many ways this strong consola- 
tion. 6 

How precious the tiny word and becomes, as we 
read, ' He is just, and having salvation.' 7 'A. 

l Amos 1.5. 2 Heb. i. 8. 3 p s> x i v . 5. 

4 Esth. iv. 11. 5 p s . lxxxv. 10; ib. lxxii. 2, 3. 

6 Heb. vi. 18. 7Zech.ix 9 . 



XJ2 COMING TO CHRIST. 

merciful and faithful High Priest.' 1 'A just God, 
and a Saviour.' 2 We do not half value God's little 
words. 

To 'the King's enemies' the sceptre is a 'rod of 
iron' 3 (for the word is the same in Hebrew). 
They cannot rejoice in the justice which they defy. 
To the King's willing subjects it is indeed golden, 
a beautiful thing, and a most precious thing. We 
admire and glory in His absolute justice and right- 
eousness; it satisfies the depths of our moral being, 
— it is so strong, so perfect. 

His justice is, if we may reverently say so, the 
strong point of His atoning work. The costly 
means of our redemption were paid for ' at the full 
price.' 4 He fulfilled the law. There was nothing 
wanting in all the work which His Father gave Him 
to do. He finished it. 5 And His Father was 
satisfied, Thus He was just towards His Father, 
that He might be faithful and just to forgive us our 
sins. 6 It is no weak compassion, merely wrought 
on by misery, but strong, grand, infinite, and equal 
justice and mercy, balanced as they never are in 
human minds. For only the ways of the Lord are 
thus 'equal.' 7 

And oh, how 'sweet is Thy mercy'! and just 
because of the justice, how 'sure'! 8 Esther said, 
'If I perish, I perish.' 9 So need not we, 'for His 
mercy endureth for ever.' 10 And so, every time we 
come into the audience chamber of our King, we 

1 Heb ii. 17. 2 Isa. xlv. 21. 

3 Ps. xlv. 5; ib. ii. 9. 4 1 Chron. xxi. 24; Matt. v. 17. 

6 John xvii. 4; Isa. xlii. 21. 6 1 John i. 9. 

7 Ezek. xviii. 25. 8 p s . c ix. 20 ? P. B. V; Isa. lv. 3. 
9 Esth. iv. 16. 10 Ps. cxxxvi. 1. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



133 



know that the golden spectre will be held out to us, 
first ' that we may live/ ! and then for favour after 
favour. 'Let us therefore come boldly unto the 
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and 
find grace to help in time of need.' 2 Not stand 
afar off and think about it, and keep our King 
waiting; but, like Esther, Met us draw near, ' 3 and 
' touch the top of the sceptre. 



' 4 



FIFTEENTH DAY. 



Cleaving to tbe Iking. 

' The men of Judah clave unto their king.' — 2 Sam. xx. 2„ 

FOR it is not a matter of course that coming is 
followed by cleaving. Even when the King 
Himself, in His veiled royalty, walked and talked 
with His few faithful followers, ' many of his dis- 
ciples went back, and walked no more with Him.' 5 
There was no word of indignation or reproach, 
only the appeal of infinite pathos from His 
gracious lips, ' Will ye also go away ? ' 6 

Let this sound in our ears to-day, not only in 
moments of temptation to swerve from truest- 
hearted loyalty and service, but all through the 
business of the day ; stirring our too easy-going 

1 Esth. v. 2 ; iv. 11 ; viii. 3, 4. 2 Heb. iv. 16. 3 Heb. x. 22. 

* Esth. v. 2. 5 John vi. 66. 6 John vi. 67. 



134 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



resting into active cleaving; quickening our 
following afar off 1 into following hard after Him f 
rousing us to add to the blessed assurance, ' Thine 
are we, David ! ' the bolder and nobler position, 
' and on Thy side / ' 3 

For this cleaving is not a mere terrified clinging 
for safety, — it is the bright, brave resolution, 
strengthened, not weakened, by the sight of waver- 
ers or renegades, to be on His side, come what may, 
because He is our King, because we love Him, be- 
cause His cause and His kingdom are so very dear 
to us. 

We cannot thus cleave, without loosening from 
other interests. But what matter ! Let us be noble 
for Jesus, like the men of might who ' separated 
themselves unto David/ and who ' held strongly 
with him in his kingdom/ 4 Shall we be mean 
enough to aim at less, when it is our Lord Jesus who 
would have us entirely ' with Him '? 5 

It is, after all, the easiest and safest course. The 
especial friends and ' the mighty men which be- 
longed to David/ 6 not only did not follow the 
usurping Adonijah, but they were never tempted to 
do so. i But me, even me thy servant, . . . hath 
he not called/ 7 There is many a temptation, very 
powerful and dangerous to a camp-follower, which 
the enemy knows it is simply useless to present to 
one of the body-guard. Our Father leads us 6 not 
into temptation/ 8 when He leads us closer to Jesus. 

The Bible never speaks of i good resolutions/ 

1 Matt. xxvi. 58. 2 p s . lxiii. 8. 3 x Chron. xii. 18. 

4 1 Chron. xii. 8 ; 1 Chron. xi. 10, marg. 5 Cant. iv. 8. 

6 1 Kings i. 8. 7 1 Kings i. 26. 8 Matt. vi. 13; i Sam. xxii. 23. 






COMING TO CHRIST. 135 

bat again and again of 'purpose.' 1 And this is 
what we want, that ' with purpose of heart ' we 
should ' cleave unto the Lord.' 2 Have we this 
distinct purpose to-day? Do we really mean, God 
helping us, to cleave to our King to-day ? Do not 
let us dare to go forth to the certain conflicts and 
temptations of the day with this negative but real 
disloyalty of want of purpose in the matter. And 
'if our heart condemn us/ 3 let us at once turn to 
Him who says, 1 1 have caused to cleave unto me 
the whole house of Israel.' 4 His grace shall enable 
us to cleave unto our King. 



SIXTEENTH DAY. 



Gbe 3os of tbe Iking. 

• David the king also rejoiced with great joy.' — I Chron. 
xxix. 9. 

DO not let us think of the joy of our King over 
His people as only future. While we cannot 
look forward too much to the day when He shall 
present us i faultless before the presence of His 
glory with exceeding joy,' 5 let us not overlook the 
present gladness which we, even we, who have so 
often grieved Him, may give to our King. 

Elsewhere we hear of the joy of angels over 

1 2 Tim. iii. 10. 2 Acts xi. 23. 3 1 John iii. 20. 

4 Jcr. xiii. 11. * Jude 24. 



I36 COMING TO CHRIST. 

repenting sinners \ y here we have a glimpse of the 
joy of the King of angels over His consecrated 
ones. Look at the whole passage, — it is full of 
typical light, — and let us take it i for our learning/ 2 

' Who then is willing to consecrate his service 
this day unto the Lord ? ' 3 Silence is negative 
here : there must be a definite heart-response if we 
are willing. Are you? If so, when? The King's 
question says nothing of some day, but of ' this 
day.' And the question is put to you: if never 
before, it is sounding in your ears now. Shall your 
service be His, ' this day,' 4 and henceforth? or 
not? 

The result of willing consecration of ourselves 
and our service is always joy. ' The people rejoiced, 
for that they offered willingly ; ' 5 but was it not far 
more, far sweeter, that their king c also rejoiced with 
great joy ' ? How they must have felt when He 
said, ' Now have I seen with joy Thy people which 
are present here, to offer willingly unto Thee ! ' 6 

For when a heart and life are willingly offered 
and fully surrendered to Him, He sees of i the 
travail of His soul' 7 in it; it is a new accomplish- 
ment of the work which He came to do : and what 
then? He 'is satisfied.' If motive were wanting 
to yield ourselves unto Him, 8 would it not be more 
than supplied by the thought that it will be satis- 
faction and joy to Him ' who loved us and washed 
us from our sins in His own blood ' ? 9 It seems just 
the one blessed opportunity given to us of being 

1 Luke xv. 10. 2 Rom. xv. 4. 3 1 Chron. xxix. 5. 

4 Josh. xxiv. 15. 5 1 Chron. xxix. 9. 6 1 Chron. xxix. ij, 

* 1sa. liii. 11. 8 Rom. vi. 13. 9 Rev. i. 5. 



C03IIXG TO CHRIST. 



137 



His true cup-bearers, 1 of bringing the wine of joy 
to our King ; and in so doing He will make our 
own cups to run over. 2 

As our own hearts are filled with the intense joy 
of consecration to our Lord, a yet intenser glow 
will come as we remember that His joy is greater 
than ours, for He is anointed ' with the oil of glad- 
ness above ' His ' fellows.' 3 

Shall not ' this day ' be ' the day of the gladness 
of His heart' ? 4 Will you not consecrate your 
service to-day unto Him? 5 For then 'He will 
save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will 
rest in His love ; He will joy over thee with 



singing.' 6 



Take myself, and I will be, 
Ever, only, all, for Thee ! 



SEVENTEENTH DAY. 



IRest on tbe Wort* of tbe Iking. 

'The word o( my lord the king shall now be for rest' (mar- 
gin). — 2 Sam. xiv. 17. 

HERE is the whole secret of rest from the very 
beginning to the very end. The word of 
our King is all we have and all we need for deep, 
utter heart-rest, which no surface waves of this 

1 1 Kings x. 5. 2 Ps. xxiii. 5. 3 Ps. xlv. 7. 

* Cant. iii. ix. 5 1 Chron. xxix. 5. 6 Zeph. iii. 17. 



I38 COMING TO CHRIST. 

troublesome world can disturb. 1 What gave 'rest 
from thy sorrow and from thy fear ' 2 at the very 
first, when we wanted salvation and peace ? It was 
not some vague, pleasing impression, some in- 
definable hush that came to us (or if it was, the 
unreality of the rest was soon proved), but some 
word of our King which we saw to be worthy of all 
acceptation f we believed it, 4 and by it Jesus gave 
us rest. 5 

There is no other means of rest for all the way 
but the very same. The moment we simply believe 
any word of the King, we find that it is truly ' for 
rest,' 6 about the point to which it refers. And 
if we would but go on taking the King's word about 
every single thing, we should always find it, then 
and there, < for rest. 7 Every flutter of unrest may, 
if we look honestly into it, be traced to not entirely 
and absolutely taking the King's word. His words 
are enough for rest at all times, and in all circum- 
stances ; therefore we are sinning the great sin of 
unbelief whenever we allow ourselves in any phase 
of unrest. It is not infirmity, but sin, to neglect to 
make use of the promises which He meant for our 
strong consolation and continual help. 7 And we 
ought not to acquiesce in the shadows which are 
only around us, because we do not hear, or hearing 
do not heed, God's call into the sunshine. 

Take the slightest and commonest instances. 
If we have an entire and present belief in ' My 
grace is sufficient for thee,' 8 or, 'Lo, I am with 

1 Job. xxxiv. 29. 2 Tsa. xiv. 3. 3 j Tim. i. 15. 

4 2 Thess. ii. 13. 5 Heb. iv. 2, 3. « Mark. ix. 23. 

7 Heb. vi. 18. 8 2 Cor. xii. 9. 



CO MIX G TO CHRIST. T - n, 

you alway/ ■ should we feel nervous at anything He 
calls us to do for Him? Would not that word be 
indeed 'for rest' 2 in the moment of need, — 'rest 
from the hard bondage ' of service to which we feel 
unequal? 3 Have we not sometimes found it so, 
and if so, why not always? I see nothing about 
'sometimes' in any of His promises. If we have 
an entire and present belief that 'all things work 
together for good/ 4 or that He leads us 'forth 
by the right way/ 5 should we feel worried when 
some one thing seems to work wrong, and some one 
yard of the way is not what we think straightest? 

We lean upon the word of the King for ever- 
lasting life, 6 why not for daily life also? For it 
shall 'nowbt for rest/ only try it to-day, 'now,' 
and see if it shall not be so ! When he says 
'perfect peace/ 7 He cannot mean imperfect peace. 
'The people rested themselves upon the words of 
Hezekiah king of Judah.' 8 Just so simply let us 
rest upon the words of our King, Jesus ! 

1 Matt, xxviii. 20. 2 Phil. iv. 19. 3 Isa. xiv. 3. 

4 Rom. viii. 28. B Ps.cvii. 7. 6 1 John ii. 25. 

1 Isa. xxvi. 3. * 2 Chron. xxxii. 8. 



I4 COMING TO CHRIST. 



EIGHTEENTH DAY. 



Cbe Business of tbe Ikina. 

' The king's business required haste.' — I Sam. xxi. 8. 

AND yet there is no other business about which 
average Christians take it so easy. They 
1 must n go their usual round, they ' must ' write 
their letters, they L must ' pay off their visits and 
other social claims, they 6 must ' do all that is 
expected of them ; and then, after this and that 
and the other thing is cleared off, they will do what 
they can of the King's business. 2 They do not say 
' must ' about that, unless it is some part of His 
business which is undertaken at second-hand, and 
with more sense of responsibility to one's clergy- 
man than to one's King. Is this being * faithful and 
loyal and single hearted ?' 3 If it has been so, oh, let 
it be so no more ! How can ' Jesus Only u be our 
motto, when we have not even said ' Jzsus Jirsf* ? 5 

The King's business requires haste. It is always 
pressing, and may never be put off. Much of it 
has to do .with souls which may be in eternity 
to-morrow ; 6 and with opportunities which are gone 

1 Luke xiv. 20. 2 Luke ix. 59, 61. 3 Eph. vi. 5, 6. 

4 Matt. xvii. 8. 6 Matt. vi. 33. 6 Luke xii. ao. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



141 



for ever if not used then and there ; there is no 
1 convenient season n for it but ' to-day.' 2 Often it is 
not really done at all, because it is not done in the 
spirit of holy haste. We meet an unconverted 
friend again and again, and beat about the bush, 
and think to gain quiet influence and make way 
gradually, and call it judicious not to be in a hurry, 
when the real reason is that we are wanting in holy 
eagerness and courage to do the King's true business 
with Lh"t soul, and in nine such cases out of ten 
nothing evei comes out of it ; but ' As thy servant 
was busy here and there, he w r as gone.' 3 Have we 
not found it so ? 

Delay in the Lord' s errands is next to disobedience, 
and generally springs out of it, or issues in it. 
1 God commanded me to make haste.' 4 Let us see 
to it that we can say, ' I made haste, and delayeC 
not to keep Thy commandments.' 5 

We never know what regret and punishment 
delay in the King's business may bring upon our- 
selves. Amasa ' tarried longer than the set time 
which he (the king) had appointed him,' 6 and the 
result was death to himself. Contrast the result in 
Abigail's case, where, except she had hasted, her 
household would have perished. 7 

We find four rules for doing the King's business, 
in His word. We are to do it, — first, ' Heartily ; ' 8 
second, ' Diligently ; ,9 third, ' Faithfully ; ' 10 fourth, 
1 Speedily. '^ Let us ask Him to give us the grace 

1 Acts xxiv. 25. 2 Heb. iii. 13. 3 1 Kings xx. 40. 

4 2 Chron. xxxv. 21. 5 Ps. cxix. 60. 6 2 Sam. xx. 5. 

* 1 Sam. xxv. 34. 8 Col. iii. 23. 9 Ezra vii. 23. 

<° 2 Chron. xxxiv, 12. 1J Ezra vii. 21. 



142 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



of energy to apply them this day to whatever He 
indicates as our part of His business, remembering 
that He said ' I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness/ 1 

Especially in that part of it which is between 
Himself and ourselves alone, let us never delay. 
Oh, the incalculable blessings that we have already 
lost by putting off our own dealings with our King ! 
Abigail first 'made haste ,2 to meet David for mere 
safety; soon afterwards, she again ' hasted and arose 
and went after the messengers of David, and became 
his wife.' 3 

Thus hasting, we shall rise from privilege to 
privilege, and • go from strength to strength.' 

What shall be our word for Jesus ? Master, give it day by day; 
Ever as the need arises, teach Thy children what to say. 
Give us holy love and patience ; grant us deep humility, 
That of self we may be emptied, and our hearts be full of 

Thee; 
Give us zeal and faith and fervour, make us winning, make us 

wise, 
Single-hearted, strong and fearless ; — Thou hast called us, we 

will rise ! 
Let the might of Thy good Spirit go with every loving word; 
And by hearts prepared and opened, be our message always 

heard ! 

1 Luke ii. 49. 2 Y Sam. xxv. 18. 

8 3 Sam. xxv. 42. 



CO.Vi-XG TO CHRIST. 



NINETEENTH DAY. 



143 



Zbc IReaMness of tbe Iking '0 
Servants. 

1 Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king 
shall appoint.' — 2 Sam. xv. 15. 

THIS is the secret of steady and unruffled glad- 
ness in ' the business of the Lord, and the 
service of the King/ 1 whether we are 'over the 
treasures of the house of God/ 2 or, ' for the outward 
business over Israel.' 3 

It makes all the difference ! If we are really, and 
always, and equally ready to do whatsoever* the 
King appoints, all the trials and vexations arising 
from any change in His appointments, great or 
small, simply do not exist. If He appoints me to 
work there, shall I lament that I am not to work 
here? 5 If he appoints me to wait in-doors to-day, 
am I to be annoyed because I am not to work out- 
of-doors ? If I meant to write His messages this 
morning, shall I grumble because He sends inter- 
rupting visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to 
speak them, or ' show kindness ' 6 for His sake, or 

1 1 Chron. xxvi. 30. 2 1 Chron. xxvi. 20. 3 1 Chron. xxvi. 29. 

4 John ii. 5 . 5 Josh. i. 16. 6 2 Sam. ix. 3. 



j 44 COMING TO CHRIST. 

at least obey His command, ' Be courteous ' P 1 If all 
my ' members ' 2 are really at His disposal, why 
should I be put out if to-day's appointment is some 
simple work for my hands or errands for my feet, 
instead of some seemingly more important doing of 
he # ad or tongue ? 

Does it seem a merely ideal life ? Try it ! begin 
at once ; before you venture away from this quiet 
moment, ask your King to take you ' wholly ' into 
His service, and place all the hours of this day 
quite simply at His disposal, and ask Him to make 
and keep you ready to do just exactly what He 
appoints. Never mind about to-morrow; 3 one day 
at a time is enough. Try it to-day, and see if it is 
not a day of strange, almost curious peace, so sweet 
that you will be only too thankful, when to-morrow 
comes, to ask Him to take it also, — till it will 
become a blessed habit to hold yourself simply and 
' wholly at Thy commandment ' ' for any manner 
of service.' 4 

Then will come, too, an indescribable and unex- 
pected sense of freedom, and a total relief from the 
self-imposed bondage of ' having to get through* 
what we think lies before us. For, i of the chil- 
dren of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen.' 5 

Then, too, by thus being ready, moment by 
moment, for whatsoever He shall appoint, we 
realize very much more that we are not left alone, 
but that we are dwelling i with the King for His 
work.' 6 Thus the very fact of an otherwise vexa- 

1 i Pet. iii. 8. 2 Rom. vi. 13. s Jas. iv. 14. 

* 1 Chron. xxviii. 21. 6 1 Kings ix. 22. 6 1 Chron. iv. 23. 



COMING TO CHRIST. x ^ 

tious interruption is transmuted into a precious 
proof of the nearness of the King. 1 His interfer- 
ence implies His interest and His presence. 

The ' whatsoever ' is not necessarily active work. 
It may be waiting ( whether half an hour or half a 
lifetime), learning, suffering, sitting still. But, 
dear fellow-servants of ' my Lord the King/ shall 
we be less ready for these, if any of them are His 
appointments for to-day ? ' Whatsoever the king 
did pleased all tne people.' 2 

' Ready' implies something of preparation, — not 
being taken by surprise. So let us a-k Him to pre- 
pare us for all that He is preparing for us. And may 
1 the hand of God give ' us ' one heart to do the 
commandment of the King !' 3 

* Lord, I have given my life to Thee, 
And every day and hour is Thine; 

"What Thou appointed let them be ; 
Thy will is better, Lord, than mine.' 

A. L. Waring. 

1 Ps. cxxxix. 5. 2 2 Sam. iii. 36. 3 2 Chron. xxx. 12. 



146 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



TWENTIETH DAY. 



Woz jfrienfcsbip of tbe Iking, 

1 He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips 
the king shall be his friend.' — Prov. xxii. II. 

' T "K ^HO can say, I have made my heart clean, I 
V V am pure ' P 1 Who must not despair of the 
friendship of the King if this were the condition? 2 
But His wonderful condescension in promising His 
friendship bends yet lower in its tenderly devised 
condition. Not to the absolutely pure in heart, 3 but 
to the perhaps very sorrowfully longing lover of that 
pureness, come the gracious words, ' The King shall 
be his Friend.' 

Yet there must be some proof of this love ; and 
it is found in ' the grace of His lips.' ' For out of 
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. ' 4 
Here, again, we stop and question our claim; for 
our speech has not always been 'with grace; ,5 and 
the memory of many a graceless and idle word 
rises to bar it. 6 How then shall the King be our 
Friend ? Another word comes to our help : ' Grace 

1 Prov. xx. 9. 2 Hab. i. 13. 8 Matt. v. 8. 

4 Matt. xii. 34. 6 Col. iv. 6. 6 Matt. xii. 36. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. 



147 



is poured into thy lips,' 1 — grace that overflowed in 
gracious words, 2 such as never man spake, 3 perfectly 
holy and beautiful ; and w r e look up to our King 
and plead that He has Himself fulfilled the condi- 
tion in which we have failed, — that this is part of 
the righteousness which He wrought for us, and 
which is really unto us and upon us, because we 
believe in Him; 4 and so, for the grace of His own 
lips, the King shall be our Friend. 

Who has not longed for an ideal and yet a real 
friend, — one who should exactly understand us, 5 to 
whom we could tell everything. 6 and in whom we 
could altogether confide, — one who should be very 
wise and very true, 7 — one of whose love and unfail- 
ing interest we could be certain ? 8 There are other 
points for which we could not hope, — that this 
friend should be very far above us, and yet the very 
nearest and dearest, always with us, 9 always think- 
ing of us, always doing kind and wonderful things 
for us ; 10 undertaking and managing everything ; n 
forgetting nothing, failing in nothing; 12 quite cer- 
tain never to change and never to die, 13 — so that 
this one grand friendship should fill our lives, and 
that we really never need trouble about anything 
for ourselves any more at all. 14 

Such is our Royal Friend, and more; for no 
human possibilities of friendship can illustrate what 
He is to those to whom He says, 'Ye are my 
friends.' 15 We, even we, may look up to our 

1 Ps. xlv. 2. 2 Luke iv. 22. 3 John vii. 46. 

4 Rom. iii. 22. 5 p s# cxxxix. 2. 6 Mark vi. 30. 

7 Rev. xix. 11. 8 John xiii. 1. 9 Matt, xxviii. 20. 

10 Ps. xl. 17. 11 Isa. xxxviii. 14. l - Zeph. iii. 5. 

13 Mai. iii. 6. 14 1 Pet. v. 7. ^ John xv. 14. 



148 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



glorious King, our Lord and our God, and say, 
'This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!' 1 
And then we, even we, may claim the privilege of 
being 'the King's companion' 2 and the 'King's 
friend.' 3 






TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 



Gbe %\qU of tbe Ikina'e 
Countenance. 

* In the light of the king's countenance is life.' — Prov. 
xvi. 15. 

BUT first fell the solemn words, ' Thou hast set 
our secret sins in the light of Thy counte- 
nance.' 4 That was the first we knew of its bright- 
ness ; and to some its revelation has been so terrible, 
that they can even understand how the Lord 'shall 
destroy' the wicked 'with the brightness of His 
coming.' 5 Yet, though we feel that 'His eyes 
were as a flame of fire,' 6 we found also that our 
'King that sitteth in the throne of judgment, scat- 
tereth away all evil with His eyes;' 7 and that it 
was when we stood in that light, that we found the 
power of the precious blood of Jesus, the Anointed 
One, to cleanse us from all sin. 8 

1 Cant. v. 16. 2 1 Chron. xxvii. 33. 3 1 Kings iv. 5. 

4 Ps. xc. 8. 5 2 Thess. ii. 8. • Rev. i. 14. 

7 Prov. xx. 8. 81 John i. 7. 



COMING TO CHRIST. j^q 

This gives new value to the promise, ' They shall 
walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance; ,l 
for it is when we walk in the light that we may 
claim and do realize the fulness of its power and 
preciousness, — not for fitful and occasional cleans- 
ing, but for a glorious, perpetual, present cleansing 
from all sin. Do not let us translate it into another 
tense for ourselves, and read, 2 'did cleanse last 
time we knelt and asked for it/ but keep to the 
tense which the Holy Ghost has written, and meet 
the foe-flung darts of doubt 3 with faith's great 
answer, * The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleans- 
eth (7. e. goes on cleansing) us from all sin.' 

Thus the light of His countenance shall save us. 
Look at Ps. xliv. 3, where we see it as the means 
of past salvation, 4 and then at Ps. xlii. 5, where the 
Psalmist anticipates praise for its future help; 5 
while the two are beautifully linked by the marginal 
reading of the latter, which makes it present salva- 
tion : ' Thy presence is salvation. ' 

Then follows peace. The waves are stilled, and 
the storm-clouds flee away noiselessly and swiftly 
and surely, when He lifts up the light of His coun- 
tenance upon us, and gives us peace. 6 For this 
uplifting is the shining forth of His favour, 7 — the 
smile instead of the frown ; and as we walk in the 
light of it, the peace will grow into joy, and we 
shall be even here and now ' exceeding glad with 
Thy countenance/ 8 while every step will bring us 
nearer to the resurrection joy of Christ Himself, 

1 Ps.lxxxix. 15. 2 Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 3 Eph. vi. 16. 

4 Ps. xliv. 3. 5 Ps. xlii. 5. 6 Num. vi. 26. 

? 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. 8 Ps. xxi. 6. 



ISO 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



saying with Him, 'Thou shalt make me full of joy 
with Thy countenance.' 1 

So we shall find day by day, that in the light of 
the King's countenance is cleansing, salvation, 
peace, joy; — and do not these make up life, the 
new life, the glad life of the children of the King? 

6 Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance 
upon us' 2 this day, and in it let us have life, yea, 
'Life more abundantly.' 3 

' He that followeth me shall not walk in dark- 
ness, but shall have the light of life.' * 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 



Zhe £enfcerne00 of tbe Iking* 

'And the king commanded, saying, Deal gently for my sake 
with the young man, even with Absalom.' — 2 Sam. xviii. 5. 

EVEN with Absalom ! Even with the heartless, 
deliberate traitor and rebel. 5 We must 
recollect clearly what he was, to appreciate th& 
exquisite tenderness of David in such a command 
to his rough war captains in such untender times. 
For the sake of his people and his kingdom, he 
must send them forth against him, but the deep love 
gushes out in the bidding, ' Deal gently for my sake.' 
It was no new impulse. When Amnon was mur- 

1 Acts ii. 28. 2 p s . i v . 6. 3 John x. 10. 

4 John viii. 12. & 2 Sam.xv. 2-ix. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. \ t r 

dered, the king ' wept very sore/ and * mourned 
for his son every day,' 1 and yet, when the fratricide 
had fled, ' the soul of King David longed to go 
forth unto him/ 2 and ' the king's heart was toward 
Absalom.' 3 And when God's own vengeance fell 
upon the w r icked son, David's lamentation over him 
is perhaps unparalleled in its intensity of pathos 
among the records of human tenderness. 4 

Turn to the Antitype, and see the divine tender- 
ness of our King. Again and again it gleams out, 
whether He himself wept, or whether He said, 
* Weep not,' 5 — w r hether in the tender look, the 
tender word, or the tender touch of gentlest mercy. 
The Gospels are full of His tenderness. There is 
not room here even for the bare mention of the 
instances of it ; but will you not give a little time 
to searching quietly for them, so that, reading them 
under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, 6 you may 
get a concentrated view of the wonderful tenderness 
of Jesus, and yield your heart to be moved by it, 
and your spirit to be so penetrated by it, that you 
may share it and reflect it? Remember that in such 
a search we learn not only what He did and said, 
nor only what He was, but what He is; and in all 
His recorded tenderness we are looking into the 
presenthea.Tt of Jesus, and seeing what we shall find 
for ourselves as we have need. For He is * this same 
Jesus ' 7 to-day. 

Then let us glance at the volume of our own 
experience. Who that has had any dealings with 

1 2 Sam. xiii. 36, 37. 2 2 Sam. xiii. 39. 3 2 Sam. xiv. 1. 

4 2 Sam. xviii. 33. 5 Luke xix. 41 ; ib. vii. 13; ib. xxii. 61. 

6 John xiv. 26. 1 Acts i. 11. 



!j 2 COMING TO CHRIST. 

Christ at all, but must bear witness that He has in- 
deed dealt gently with us. Has not even suffering 
been sweet when it showed us more of this? 1 What 
if He had ever ' dealt with us after our sins ' ! 2 But 
He never did, and never will. 3 He hath dealt 
gently and will deal gently with us, for His own 
sake, and according to His own heart, from the first 
drawings of His loving-kindness, on throughout the 
measureless developments of his everlasting love. 4 
Not till we are in heaven shall we know the full 
meaning of * Thy gentleness hath made me great/ 5 
May we not recognize a command in this, as well 
as a responsibility to follow the example of the 
1 gentleness of Christ ' ? 6 Perhaps next time we are 
tempted to be a little harsh or hasty with an erring 
or offending one, the whisper will come, ' Deal 
gently, for My sake ! ' 

Return ! 
O erring, yet beloved ! 
I wait to bind thy bleeding feet, for keen 
And rankling are the thorns where thou hast been^ 
I wait to give thee pardon, love, and rest. 
(Is not my joy to see thee safe and blest ? ) 
Return ! I wait to hear once more thy voice, 
To welcome thee anew, and bid thy heart rejoice 1 

Return ! 
O chosen of my love ! 
Fear not to meet thy beckoning Saviour's view; 
Long ere I called thee by thy name, I knew 
That very treacherously thou wouldst deal ; 
Now I have seen thy ways, — yet I will heal. 
Return! Wilt thou yet linger far from Me ? 
My wrath is turned away, I have redeemed thee ! 

1 Lam. iii. 32. 2 p s . ciii. 10. s Job xi. 6. 

4 Jer. xxxi. 3. 5 Ps. xviii. 35. 6 2 Cor. x. x. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



153 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY. 



Zbe ftofcen of tbe IRino's (Brace. 

1 To-day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy 
sight, my lord, O king, in that the king hath fulfilled the 
request of his servant.' — 2 Sam. xiv. 22. 

AN answered prayer makes us glad for its own 
sake. But there is grace behind the gift 
which is better and more gladdening than the gift 
itself. For which is most valued, the ' engaged 
ring,' or the favour of which it is the token? 
Setting aside judicial answers to unspiritual prayers, 1 
which an honest conscience will have no difficulty 
in distinguishing, the servants of the King may take 
it that His answers to their requests are proofs and 
tokens of His grace and favour, 2 — of His real, and 
present, and personal love to themselves individually. 
When they are receiving few or none, they should 
search for the cause, lest it should be some hidden 
or unrecognized sin. 3 For i if I regard iniquity in 
my heart, the Lord will not hear me; ' 4 so never 
let us go on comfortably and easily when He is silent 
to us. And instead of envying others who get 

1 Ps. cvi. 15 ; Hos. xiii. 11, etc. - 1 John iii. 22. 

3 Job x. 2. 4 1 Sam. xxviii. 6; Ps. xix. 12; ib. lxvi. 18. 



154 COMING TO CHRIST. 

'such wonderful answers/ Met us search and try 
our ways.' 1 

Personal acceptance comes first. We must be 
' accepted in the Beloved ' 2 before we can look to 
be answered through the Beloved. Is there a doubt 
about this, and a sigh over the words ? There need 
not be ; for now, at this moment, the old promise 
stands with its unchangeable welcome to the weary: 
< Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
out.' 3 Then, if you come, now, at this moment, on 
the strength of His word, you cannot be rejected ; 
and if not rejected, there is nothing but one blessed 
alternative — ' accepted ! ' 

Then come the answers ! As surely as the prayers 
go up from the accepted one, so surely will the 
blessings come down. When Esther had touched 
the golden sceptre, 6 then said the king unto her, 
What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy 
request ? it shall be even given thee to the half of 
the kingdom.' 4 But there is no 'half in our 
King's promise. He says, i All things' and ' what- 
soever.' 5 And He does ' do exceeding abundantly 
above all that we ask or think,' and more than fulfils 
our little scanty requests. 6 

And then, by every fresh fulfilment we should 
receive ever new assurance of our acceptance, — 
then (shall it not be ' to-day' ?), as we give thanks 
for each gracious answer, we may look up confidingly 
and joyfully, and say, ' Thy servant knoweth that 
I have found grace in thy sight.' For He says, 

* Lam. iii. 40. 2 Eph. i. 6. 
3 John vi. 37 ; Heb. vii. 25. 4 Esth. v. 3. 

* Matt. xxi. 22 ; John xiv. 13. 6 Eph. iii. 20 ; 1 Kings x. 13. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 155 

♦See, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have 
accepted thy person.' 1 

Accepted, Perfect, and Complete, 2 
For God's inheritance made meet! 3 
How true, how glorious, and how sweet! 4 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY. 



Zbc Omniscience of tbe Iking. 

1 There is no matter hid from the king.' — 2 Sam. xviii. 13. 

THE very attributes which are full of terror to 
1 the King's enemies,' 5 are full of comfort to 
the King's friends. Thus His omniscience is like 
the pillar, which was ' a cloud and darkness ' to the 
Egyptians, but ' gave light by night ' to the Israel- 
ites. 6 

The king's own General complained of a man 
who did not act precisely as he himself would have 
acted. In his reply he uses these words, ' There is 
no matter hid from the king.' The appeal was 
final, and Joab had no more to say. When others 
say, like Joab, c " Why didst thou not n do so and 
so? ' and we know or find that full reasons cannot 
be given or cannot be understood, what rest it is to 
fall back upon the certainty that our King knows 

l 1 Sam. xxv. 35. » Eph. i. 6. 3 Col. i . 28. 

4 Col. ii. 10. 6 Ps. xlv. 5. 6 Ex. xiv. 20. 



I56 COMING TO CHRIST, 

all about it ! When we are wearied out with trying 
to make people understand, how restful it is that no 
explanations are wanted when we come to speak to 
Him ! x ' All things are naked and opened unto 
the eyes of Him with whom we have to do ; ' 2 and 
the more we have to do with Him, the more glad 
and thankful we shall be that there is 'not anything' 
hid from the King. 3 

In perplexities, — when we cannot understand 
what is going on around us — cannot tell whither 
events are tending — cannot tell what to do, because 
we cannot see into or through the matter before us, 
— let us be calmed and steadied and made patient 
by the thought that what is hidden from us is not 
hidden from Him. If He chooses to guide us 
blindfold, let Him do it! 4 It will not make the 
least difference to the reality and rightness of the 
guidance. 5 

In mysteries, — when we see no clue — when we 
cannot at all understand God's partial revelation — 
when we cannot lift the veil that hangs before His 
secret counsel — when we cannot pierce the holy 
darkness that enshrouds His ways, or tread the 
great deep of His judgments where His footsteps 
are not known, 6 — is it not enough that even these 
matters are not hid from our King? ' My father 
will do nothing, either great or small, but he will 
show it me.' 7 i For the Father loveth the Son, and 
showeth Him all things that Himself doeth.' 8 

Our King could so easily reveal everything to us, 

1 Job xxiii. 10. 2 Heb. iv. 13. 3 1 Kings x. 3. 

4 Isa. xlii. 16. 5 Ps. cvii. 7. 

6 Ps. xcvii. 2; ib. xxxvi. 6; ib. lxxvii. 19. Ji Sam. xx. 2. 

8 John v. 20. 



COMIX G TO CHRIST. 



157 



and make everything so clear ! It would be noth- 
ing to Him to tell us all our questions. When he 
does not, cannot we trust Him, and just be satisfied 
that He knows, and would tell us if it were best? 
He has ' many things to say ' unto us, but He waits 
till we can bear them. 1 

May we be glad that even our sins are c not hid ' 
from Him? Yes, surely, for He who knows all 
can and will cleanse all. He has searched us and 
known us, 2 as we should shrink from knowing 
ourselves, and yet He has pardoned, and yet He 
loves ! 3 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 

Zbc power of tbe Iking '0 Moro. 

{ Where the word of a king is, there is power.' — Eccl. viii. 4, 

THEN the question is, Where is it ? l Let the 
word of Christ dwell in you richly,' 4 and 
1 there/ even ' in you/ will be power. 

The Crowned One, who is now ' upholding all 
things by the word of His power/ 5 hath said, 'I 
have given them Thy word.' 6 And those who have 
received this great gift, ' not as the word of men, 
but, as it is in truth, the word of God/ know that 

3 John xvi. 12. 2 Ps. cxxxix. 1. 3 Isa. xlviii. 8. 

< Col. iii. 16. 5 Heb. ii. 9; ib. i. 3. 6 Johnxvii. 14. 



jjg COMING TO CHRIST. 

' there is power ' with it, because it i effectually 
worketh also ' in them. 1 

They know its life-giving power, for they can 
say, < Thy word hath quickened me;' 2 and its life- 
sustaining power, for they live ' by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' 3 They can 
say, ' Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I 
might not sin against Thee; ,4 for in proportion as 
the word of the King is present in the heart, 'there 
is power ' 5 against sin. Then let us use this means 
of absolute power more, and more life and more 
holiness will be ours. 

' His word was with power ' 6 in Capernaum of 
old, and it will be with the same power in any place 
now-a-days. His word cannot fail; it c shall not 
return void ; ' it * shall prosper. ' 7 Therefore, when 
our ' words fall to the ground/ 8 it only proves that 
they were not His words. So what we want is not 
merely that His power may accompany our word, 
but that we may not speak our own at all, but 
simply and only the very 'word of the King/ 
Then there will be power in and with it. Bows 
drawn at a venture 9 hit in a way that astonishes 
ourselves, when God puts His own arrows on the 
string. 10 

There is great comfort and help in taking this 
literally. Why ask a little when we may ask much ? 
The very next time we want to speak or write ' a 
word for Jesus ' (and of course that ought to be to- 
day), 11 let us ask Him to give us not merely a general 

1 i Thess. ii. 13. 2 Ps. cxix. 50. 3 Matt. iv. 4. 

4 Ps. cxix. 11. 6 John vi. 63. 6 Luke iv. 32. 

7 Isa. Iv. 11. 8 1 Sam. iii. 19. 9 1 Kings xxii. 34. 

10 Ps. xlv. 5. n Heb. iii. 13. 



COMING TO CHRIST. T rg 

idea what to say, but to give us literally every single 
word, and ' they shall be withal fitted in thy lips. ' * 

For He will not say, ■ Thou hast asked a hard 
thing/ 2 though it is far more than asking for the 
mantle of any prophet. He says, ' Behold, I have 
put My words in thy mouth/ 3 This was not for 
Jeremiah alone, for soon after we read, ' He that 
hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully ' * 
(for we must not overlook our responsibility in the 
matter); and then follows the grand declaration of 
its power, even when spoken by feeble human lips : 
'Is not My word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and 
like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? ' 5 
' Behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire.' 6 

If we are not even < sufficient of ourselves to 
think anything as of ourselves,' 7 how much less to 
speak anything ! 'Have I now any power at all to 
say anything? The word that God putteth in my 
mouth, that shall I speak. ' 8 We would rather have 
it so, ' that the excellency of the power may be of 
God, and not of us. ' 9 Our ascended King has said, 
'All power is given unto Me. Go ye therefore. ' 10 
That is enough for me ; and ' I trust in Thy word.' 11 

Resting on the faithfulness of Christ our Lord, 
Resting on the fulness of His own sure word, 
Resting on His power, on His love untold, 
Resting on His covenant secured of old. 

1 Prov. xxii. 18. 2 2 Kings ii. 10. 3 Jer. i. 9. 

4 Jer. xxiii. 28. 5 Jer. xxiii. 29. 6 jer. v. 14. 

7 2 Cor. iii. 5. s Num. xxii. 38. * 2 Cor. iv. 7^ 

10 Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. U Ps. cxix. 42. 



i6o CUMING TO CHRIST. 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. 



Zfoe mame of tbe Iking. 

* A King shall reign. And this is His name whereby He 
shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.' 
— Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 

WE cannot do without this most wonderful 
name. It can never be an old story to us. 
It is always a l new name n in freshness and beauty 
and power. It is our daily need and our daily joy. 
For strength it is indeed ' a strong tower ; the 
righteous runneth into it, and is safe.' 2 For sweet- 
ness it is ' as ointment poured forth.' 3 In it we 
see at once the highest height and the deepest 
depth; Jehovah, God of God, Light of Light, and 
our need of a righteousness which is not our own at 
all, because we have none. We stand as upon an 
Alpine slope, face to face with the highest, grandest, 
purest summit above, and the darkest, deepest 
valley below, seeing more of the height because of 
the depth, and more of the depth because of the 
height. 

Jesus our King ' hath by inheritance obtained a 

l Rev. iii. ia. 2 Prov. xviii. io. 3 Cant. i. 3. 



COMIXG TO CHRIST. j^j 

more excellent name n than angels, for His Father 
has given Him his own name, — ' He shall be 
called Jehovah.' 2 But this alone would be too 
great, too far off for us ; it might find echoes 
among the harpings of sinless angels, but not 
among the sighings of sinful souls, And so 
the name was completed for us, by the very word 
that expresses our truest, deepest, widest, most 
perpetual need, and the Holy Ghost revealed 
the Son of God to as ' Jehovah our Righteous- 
ness/ 

Do not let us be content with theoretically un- 
derstanding and correctly holding the doctrine of 
justification by faith. Turn from the words to the 
• reality, from the theory to the Person, and as a 
little, glad, wondering child, look at the simple, 
wonderful truth. That ' the Righteousness of God ' 
(how magnificent !) is 'unto all and upon all them 
that believe ; ,3 therefore, at this very moment, un- 
to and upon you and me, instead of our own filthy 
rags, 4 so that we stand clothed and beautiful 5 in the 
very sight of God, now ; and Jesus can say, ' Thou 
art all fair, my love,' 6 now! That it is not any 
finite righteousness, which might not quite cover 
the whole, — might not be quite enough to satisfy 
God's all-searching eye; not a righteousness, but 
The Righteousness of God ; 7 and this no abstract 
attribute, but a Person, real, living, loving,— covering 
us with His own glorious apparel, 8 representing us 
before His Father, Christ Jesus Himself ' made 

1 Heb. i. 4. 2 Jer. xxiii. 6, marg. 3 Rom. iii. 22. 

4 Isa. lxiv. 6. 5 Zech. iii. 4, 5. * Cant. iv.7. 

7 Phil. iii. q. 8 Isa. lxiii. 1. 



l62 COMING TO CHRIST. 

unto us Righteousness ! n This to-day and this for 
ever, for * His name shall endure for ever.' 2 

It is in His kingly capacity that this glorious 
name is given to Him. For only by ' submitting 
ourselves to the Righteousness of God,' 3 can we 
have ' the blessedness of the man unto whom God 
imputeth righteousness without works.' 4 There can 
be no compromise, — it must be His only or ours 
only. He must be our King, or He will not be our 
Righteousness. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 



Working witb tbe Iking. 

* There they dwelt with the king for his work.' — I Chron. 
iv. 23. 

4 npHERE ! '—Not in any likely place at all, not 
A in the palace, not in i the city of the great 
king/ 5 but in about the last place one would have 
expected, ' among plants and hedges.' 6 It does 
not even seem clear why they were ' there ' at all, 
for they were potters, not gardeners, — thus giving 
us the combination of simple labour of the hands, 
carried on in out-of-the-way places ; and yet they 
were dwellers with the king, and workers with 
the king. 

1 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Ps. Ixxii. 17. 3 Rom. x. 3. 

4 Rom. iv. 6. & Ps. xlviii. 2. * 1 Chron. iv. 23. 



L0M1XG TO CHRIST. iQ^ 

The lesson seems twofold, — First, thai anywhere 
and everywhere we too may dwell ' with the King 
for His work.' We may be in a very unlikely or 
unfavourable place for this, — it may be in a literal 
country life, with little enough to be seen of the 
' goings ' ■ of the King around us ; it may be 
among hedges of all sorts, hindrances in all direc- 
tions ; it may be, furthermore, with our hands full 
of all manner of pottery for our daily task. No 
matter ! The King who placed us ' there ' will 
come and dwell there with us ; the hedges are all 
right, or He would soon do away with them, 2 and 
it does not follow that what seems to hinder our 
way 3 may not be for its very protection; and as for 
the pottery, why, that is just exactly what He has 
seen fit to put into our hands, and therefore it is, 
for the present, ' His work.' i 

Secondly, that the dwelling and the working 
must go together. If we are indeed dwelling with 
the King, we shall be working for Him, too, ' as we 
have oppor^inity.' 5 The working will be as the 
dwelling, — a settled, regular thing, whatever form 
it may take at His appointment. Nor will His work 
ever be done when we are not dwelling with Him. 
It will be our own work then, not His, and it will 
not 4 abide.' 6 We shall come under the condem- 
nation of the vine which was pronounced ' empty/ 
because ' he bringeth forth fruit unto himself/ 7 

We are to dwell with the King ' for His work ;' 
but He will see to it that it shall be for a great deal 

1 Ps. lxviii. 24. 2 Job iii. 23. 3 Matt. xxi. 33. 

4 Mark xiii. 34. 5 Gal. vi.io. • 1 Cor. iii. 14, 

T Hos. x. 1. 



164 COMING TO CHRIST. 

besides, — for a great continual reward according to 
His own heart and out of His royal bounty, — for 
peace, for power, for love, for gladness, for like- 
ness to Himself. 

' Labourers together with God ! ' * ' workers 
together with him V 2 ' the Lord working with* us ! 3 
admitted into divine fellowship of work ! — will not 
this thought ennoble everything He gives us to do 
to-day, even if it is ' among plants and hedges ' ! 
Even the pottery will be grand ! 

6 Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the 
Lord, and work, for I am with you, saith the Lord 
of hosts. ' * 



TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY- 



Zbz IRecompense of tbe Iking, 

1 Why should the king recompense it me with such a 
reward ? ' — 2 Sam. xix. 36. 

BARZILLAI 'had provided the king of suste 
nance while he lay at Mahanaim,' 5 exiled from 
his royal city. When the day of triumphant return 
came, David said to him, ' Come thou over with me, 
and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. ' 6 This 
was the ' reward.' 

But what a privilege and delight it must have 

1 Cor. iii. 9. 2 2 Cor. vi. 1. 3 Mark xvi. 20. 

4 Hag. ii. 4. & 2 Sam. xix, 32. 6 2 Sam. xix. 33,] 



COMING TO CHRIST. r 6q 

been to the loyal old man ! And to come nearer, 
what a continual joy it must have been to the women 
who 'ministered ' x to the exiled King of heaven 
1 of their substance.' How very much one would 
Jave liked a share in that ministry ! 

Is there any loving wish which our King does not 
meet? Was it not most thoughtful of Him to 
appoint His continual representatives, so that we 
might always and every one of us have the opportu- 
nity of ministering to Him! These opportunities 
are wider than we sometimes think; some limit 
His ' gracious Inasmuch ,2 to services for His sake 
to the poor only. Yet the * strangers' 3 whom He 
bids us love, may be rich in all but the friendliness 
and kindness which we may show them ; and the 
' sick ' may be those among our own dear ones who 
need our ministry. Why should we fancy it is only 
those who are not near and dear to us, to whom we 
may minister i as unto Him ' ? 4 

But oh, what little services are our cups of cold 
water ! 5 and how utterly ashamed we feel of ever 
having thought any of them wearying or irksome, 
when we look at ' the recompense of the reward,' 6 — - 
•such a reward ! ' Is there one of us whose heart 
has not thrilled at the mere imagining of what it 
will be to hear ' the King say, Come, ye blessed ! ' 7 
Then what will it be to enter into the fulness of the 
reward, to ' come over with' 8 Him, and dwell with 
Him always in 'the holy Jerusalem,' and 'go no 
more out.' 9 



1 Luke viii. 3. 2 Matt. xxv. 40. 3 Deut. x. 19. 

* Eph. vi. 7, 6 Mark ix. 41. 6 Heb. xi. 26. 

' Matt. xxv. 34. 8 2 Sam. xix. 33. 9 Rev. xxi. 10; ib. iii. 12. 



1 66 COMING TO CHRIST. 

1 Why should the king recompense it me with such 
a reward ? ' ' Why should thy servant dwell in the 
royal city with thee? n For there is such a tremen- 
dous disproportion between the work and the reward, 
though such a glorious proportion between His love 
and His reward. 

And yet there is a beautiful fitness in it. The 
banquet of everlasting joy for those who gave Him 
meat ; 2 the river of His pleasures for those who gave 
Him drink; 3 the mansions in the Father's home 
for those who took the stranger in ; 4 the white robes 
for those who clothed the naked ; 5 the tree of life 
and * no more pain ' for those who visited the sick; 6 
the 'glorious liberty ' 7 for those who came unto the 
prisoner; the crown of all, the repeatedly promised 
'with Me' 8 for those who were content to be with 
His sorrowful or suffering ones for His sake. Why 
all this? I suppose we shall keep on asking that 
for ever ! 



TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 



Zhc Salvation of tbe Iking* 

* The Lord is our King; He will save us.' — Isa. xxxiii. 22. 



T 



HE thought of salvation is constantly connected 
with that of kingship. Type, illustration, 



1 i Sam. xxvii. 5. 2 Matt. xxv. 35, etc. 8 Ps. xxxvi. 8. 

* John xiv. 2. 6 Rev. vii. 13. 6 Rev. xxii. 2 ; ib. xxi. 4. 

* Rom. viii. 21. 8 John xvii. 24. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 167 

and prophecy combine them. ' Thou shalt anoint 
him . . . that he may save my people.' 1 ' By the 
hand of my servant David I will save my people.' 2 
' The king saved us. ' ' A King shall reign ; in His 
days Judah shall be saved.'* ' Thy King cometh, 
. . . having salvation.' 4 

Because Jesus is our Saviour, He has the right to 
be our King; but again, because He is King, He 
is qualified to be our Saviour ; and we never know 
Him fully as Saviour till we have fully received 
Him as King. His kingship gives the strength to 
His priesthood. It is as the Royal Priest of the 
order of Melchisedec that He is 'able to save.' 5 
Thus He is ' a Saviour, and a Great One/ 'mighty 
to save.' 6 

Our King has not only 'wrought/ and 'brought/ 
and ' made known His salvation/ 7 but He Himself 
is our salvation. 8 The very names seem used inter- 
changeably. Isaiah says, ' Say ye to the daughter 
of Zion, Behold, thy Salvation cometh;'* Zechariah 
bids her rejoice, for 'Behold, thy King cometh.' 10 
Again, Isaiah says, ' Mine eyes have seen the King; ' u 
and Simeon echoes, ' Mine eyes have seen thy Sal- 
vation, 112 &s he looks upon the infant Jesus, the 
Light to lighten the Gentiles ; reminding us again 
of David's words, 'The Lord is my light and my 
salvation.' 13 

It is because we need salvation, because we are 

1 1 Sam. ix. 16. 2 2 Sam. iii. 18 ; ib. xix. 9. 

3 Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 4 Zech. ix. 9. 

6 Heb. vii. 1, 17; ib. vii. 25* 6 Isa. xix. 20; ib. lxiii. s. 

7 Isa. lxiii. 5. 8 Ps. xcviii. 2. 9 Isa. lxii. 11. 
10 Zech. ix. 9. n Isa. vi. 5. 12 Luke ii. 30. 
13 Ps. xxvii. i. 



j 63 COMING TO CHRIST. 

surrounded by enemies and dangers, and have no 
power to help ourselves, and have no other help or 
hope, that He says, ' I will be thy King; where is 
any other that may save thee ? ' l There is no other. 
'He saw that there was no man/ 2 and He says, 
* There is no Saviour beside me.' 3 

What is our response? David begins a Psalm by 
saying, ' Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from 
Him cometh my salvation ; ' 4 but he quickly raises 
the key, and sings, c He only is my salvation.' 5 
Perhaps we have long been quite clear that He only 
is our salvation from ' everlasting destruction ; ' 6 
but are we equally clear that He only is (not will be, 
but is) our present salvation from everything from 
which we want to be saved ? — from every danger, 
from every snare, 7 from every temptation, 8 from 
i the hand of all our enemies/ 9 from our sins? 10 In 
death we would cling to the words, ' Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners.' 11 Why not in 
life equally cling to, and equally make real use of, 
the promise, i He shall save His people from their 
sins/ 12 — not merely from sin in general, but definitely 
' from their sins/ personal and plural sins? 'Is my 
hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? or 
have I no power to deliver?' 13 

His salvation is indeed finished, His work is per- 
fect ; u and yet our King is still ' working salvation 
in the midst of the earth/ 15 applying the reality of 
His salvation (if we will only believe His power) to 

1 Hos. xiii. 10. 2 Isa. lix. 16. 3 Hos. xiii. 4. 

4 Ps. lxii. 1. 5 Ps. lxii. 2. 6 2 Thess. i. 9. 

7 Ps. xci. 3. 8 2 Pet. ii. 9. 9 2 Sam. iii. 18. 

10 Tit. ii. 14. 11 1 Tim. i. 15. 12 Matt. i. 21. 

13 Isa. 1. a. M Deut. xxxii. 4. tf Ps. lxxiv. 12. 



COMING TO CHRIST. ^9 

the daily details of our pilgrimage and our warfare. 
We need it not only at last, but now — every hour, 
every minute. And the King 'shall deliver the 
needy when he crieth/ 1 ' and shall save the souls of 
the needy.' 2 

May He say to your soul this day, 'I am thy 
salvation. ' 3 

Look away to Jesus, 

Look away from all ! 
Then we need not stumble, 

Then we shall not fall. 
From each snare that lureth, 

Foe or phantom grim, 
Safety this ensureth, 

Look away to Him ! 



THIRTIETH DAY. 



(Sooo TTioinos to tbe Iking '0 
Ibousebolo. 

* We do not well : this day is a day of good tidings, and we 
hold our peace ; if we tarry till the morning light, some 
mischief will come upon us ; now, therefore, come, that we 
may go and tell the king's household.' — 2 Kings vii. 9. 

JUST the last persons who would seem to need 
' good tidings,' 4 and the last, too, who would 
seem likely to have them to convey ! But oh, how 

1 Ps.lxxii. 12. 2 Ps. lxxii. 13. 

8 Ps. xxxv. 3. 4 2 Kings vii. 3. 



170 



COMIXG TO CHRIST, 



true the figure is ! how many among the King's own 
household need the good tidings which these lepers 
brought ! For they are starving so near to plenty, 1 
and poor within reach of treasure, 2 and thinking 
themselves besieged when the Lord has dispersed 
the foe for them. Is it not often the spiritual leper, 
the conscious outcast, the famine-stricken, posses- 
sionless soul, who takes the boldest step into the 
fullest salvation, and finds deliverance and abundance 
and riches beyond what the more favoured and 
older inmate of the King's household knows any- 
thing about ? 

It may be one of the enemy's devices, 3 that we 
sometimes hold back good tidings, just because we 
shrink from telling them to the King's household. 
How many who do not hesitate to speak of Jesus to 
little children or poor people, or even to persons 
who openly say, i We will not have this man to 
reign over us,' 4 never say one word to their fellow- 
subjects about the blessed discoveries that the Holy 
Spirit has made to them of the fulness of His 
salvation, 5 and the reality of His power, and the 
treasures of His word, and the satisfaction of His 
love, and the far-reaching fulfilments of His promises, 
and the real, actual deliverance, and freedom, and 
victory, which He gives, 6 and the strength and the 
healing that flow through faith in His name ! 7 

Satan even perverts humility into a hinderance in 
this, and persuades us that of course our friend 
knows as much or more of this than we do, and 

1 Ps. lxxxi. 10-16. 2 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. s 2 Cor. ii. 11. 

4 Luke xix. 14. 6 John xvi. 14, 15. 6 Rom. viii. 37. 

1 Acts iii. 16. 



CO Ml KG 70 CHRIST. l y l 

that telling of what we have found in Jesus, may- 
seem like or lead to talking about ourselves. Yet 
perhaps all the while that friend is hungering and 
feeling besieged, while we are withholding good 
tidings of plenty and deliverance. 1 Verily, ' we do 
not well.' 2 Have there not been days when the 
brightest of us would have been most thankful for 
the simplest word about Jesus, from the humblest 
Christian? — days when even 'the mention of His 
name ? might have been food and freedom ! 

It does not in the least follow that members of 
Christian families need no such 'good tidings' 
because of their favoured position. They may 
need it all the more, because no one thinks it 
necessary to try and help them. ' As we have 
therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, 
specially unto them who are of the household of 
faith.' 3 

And when ? The constantly recurring word 
meets us here again, < Now ! p 

l Prov. xi. 24-af. * Ja»es zv. 17. 3 Gal. vi. 10. 



172 



COMING TO CHRIST. 



THIRTY-FIRST DAY. 



TEbe prosperity of tbe Iking. 

*A King shall reign and prosper.' — Jer. xxiii. 5. 

IF we are really interested, heart and soul, in a 
person, how delighted we are to have positive 
assurance of his prosperity, and how extremely in- 
terested and pleased we feel at hearing anything 
about it ! Is not this a test of our love to our 
King ? Are we both interested and happy in the 
short, grand, positive words which are given us 
about His certain prosperity? If so, the pulse of 
our gladness is beating through to the very heart of 
God, for i Jehovah hath pleasure in the prosperity 
of His servant/ 1 

His prosperity is both absolute and increasing. 
Even now, ' Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth 
the fame that I heard/ 2 If we could get one glimpse 
of our King in his present glory and joy, how we 
who love Him would rejoice for Him and with Him! * 
And if we could get one great view of the wide but 
hidden prosperity of His kingdom at this moment 9 
where would be our discouragement and faint- 

1 Ps. xxxv. 27. * 1 Kings x. 7. 3 1 Pet. iii. 22. 



COMING TO CHRIST. 1 73 

heartedness ! Suppose we could see how His work 
is going on in every soul that he has redeemed out 
of every kindred and tongue all over the world, 1 
with the same distinctness with which we see it in 
the last trophy of His grace for which we have been 
praising Him, would it not be a revelation of 
entirely overwhelming joy ? Many Christians now- 
a-days are foregoing an immense amount of cheer, 
because they do not take the trouble to inquire, or 
read, or go where they can hear about the present 
prosperity of His kingdom. Those who do not 
care much, can hardly be loving much or helping 
much. 

But we do care about it ; and so how jubilantly 
the promises of His increasing prosperity ring out to 
us / s He must increase.' 2 ' He must reign, till He 
hath put all enemies under his feet.' 3 'Of the in- 
crease of His government and peace there shall be 
no end.' 4 

All our natural delight in progress finds satisfac- 
tion here, — no stagnation, no reaching a dead level ; 
we are on an ever-winning side, bound up with an 
ever-progressing cause. A typical light on this 
point flashes from the story of David. He ' went 
on and grew great,' 5 or, as the margin has it, ' going 
and growing ; ' which we cannot forbear connect- 
ing with the promise to ourselves, ' Ye shall go forth 
and grow up.' 6 And then we are told that He 
1 waxed greater and greater* (marg.), 'went on 
going and increasing. 71 

But we must not be merely on-lookers. Let us 

1 Rev. v. 9. 2 John iii. 30. 3 1 Cor. xv. 25. 4 Isa. ix. 7. 
5 2 Sam. v. 10. 6 Mai. iv, 2. T 1 Chron. xi. 9. 



j- A COMING TO CHRIST. 

see to it, first, that there be increasing prosperity in 
His kingdom in our hearts. Pray that He may not 
only reign but prosper in that domain. And next, 
let us see to it that we are doing all we can to 
further His prosperity all around us. Translate our 
daily prayer, 'Thy kingdom come/ 1 into daily, 
burning, glowing action for its prosperity. 

* Matt. vi. 10. * Ps. xxiii. 5. * 2 Sam. xix. 33. < Gal. iv. 5. 

* Cant. ii. 4. • Cant. v. 1. * Cant. i. xa. 



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quarto (9 x 10 inches), $1.00. 

DICKENS' CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 

with 75 fine engravings by famous artists. Cloth, 
small quarto, boxed (9 x 10 inches) , 31 .00. 

BIBLE PICTURES AND STORIES, 100 full page engrav- 
ings. Cloth, small quarto (7x9 inches), $1.00. 

MY ODD LITTLE FOLK, some rhymes and verses 
about them, by Malcolm Douglass. Numerous original 
engravings. Cloth, small quarto (7x9), £1.00. 

PAUL AND VIRGINIA, by Bernardin St. Pierre, with 125 
engravings by Maurice Leloir. Cloth, small quarto 
(9x10), ^i.oo. 

LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRU- 
SOE, with 120 original engravings by Walter Paget. 
Cloth, octavo (jy 2 X9&), $1.50. 



ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF 

STANDARD AUTHORS. 
Cloth, Twelve Mo. Size, 5^ x 7^ Inches. Each $1.00. 



TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE, by Charles and Mao- 
Lamb, with 155 illustrations by famous artists. 

PAUL AND VIRGINIA, by Bernardin de St. Pierre, with 
125 engravings bv Maurice Leloir. 

ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, AND 
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND 
WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE, by Lewis 
Carroll. Complete in one volume with 92 engravings 
by John Tenniel. 

LUCILE, by Owen Meredith, with numerous illustrations by 
George Du Maurier. 

BLACK BEAUTY, by Anna Sewell, with nearly 50 original 
engravings. 

SCARLET LETTER, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, with numer- 
ous original full-page and text illustrations. 

THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, by Nathaniel 
Hawthorne, with numerous original full-page and text 
illustrations. 

BATTLES OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, 
by Prescott Holmes, with 70 illustrations. 

BATTLES OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION, by 
Prescott Holmes, with &> illuswations. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLES' LIBRARY 
PRICE FIFTY CENTS EACH. 



ROBINSON CRUSOE: (Chiefly in words of one syllable). 
His life and strange, surprising adventures, with 70 
beautiful illustrations by Walter Paget. 

ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, with 
42 illustrations by John Tenniel. *' The most delightful 
of children's stories. Elegant and delicious nonsense." 
— Saturday Review. 

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND WHAT 
ALICE FOUND THERE ; a companion to " Alice 
in Wonderland," with 50 illustrations by John Tenniel. 

BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, with 50 full page 
and text illustrations. 

A CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE, with 72 fall page 
illustrations. 

A CHILD'S LIFE OF CHRIST, with 49 illustrations. 
God has implanted in the infant heart a desire to hear 
of Jesus, and children are early attracted and sweetly 
riveted by the wonderful Story of the Master from the 
Manger to the Throne. 

SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, with 50 illustrations. The 
father of the family tells the tale of the vicissitudes 
through which he and his wife and children pass, the 
wonderful discoveries made and dangers encountered. 
The book is full of interest and instruction. 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE DISCOV- 
ERY OF AMERICA, with 70 illustrations. Every 
American boy and girl should be acquainted with the 
story of the life of the great discoverer, with its strug- 
gles, adventures,and trials. 

THE STORY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY 
IN AFRICA, with 80 illustrations. Records the ex- 
periences of adventures and discoveries in developing 
the " Dark Continent," from the early days of Bruce 
and Mungo Park down to Livingstone and Stanley, 
and the heroes of our own times. No present can be 
more acceptable than such a volume as this, where 
courage, intrepidity, resource, and devotion are so 
admirably mingled. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



Altemus' Young Peoples' Library — continued. 



THE FABLES OF JESOP. Compiled from the best 
accepted sources. With 62 illustrations. The fables of 
/Esop are among the very earliest compositions of this 
kind, and probably have never been surpassed for point 
and brevity. 

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Adapted for young readers. 
With 50 illustrations. 

MOTHER GOOSE'S RHYMES, JINGLES AND 
FAIRY TALES, with 234 illustrations. 

LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED 
STATES, by Prescott Holmes. With portraits of 
the Presidents and also of the unsuccessful candidates 
for the office ; as well as the ablest of the Cabinet offi- 
cers. It is just the book for intelligent boys, and it 
will help to make them intelligent and patriotic citizens. 

THE STORY OF ADVENTURE IN THE FROZEN 
SEAS, with 70 illustrations. By Prescott Holmes. 
We have here brought :_ together the records of the 
attempts to reach the North Pole. The book shows 
how much can be accomplished by steady perseverance 
and indomitable pluck. 

ILLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY, by the Rev. J. 

G. Wood, with 80 illustrations. This author has done 
more to popularize the study of natural history than 
any other writer. The illustrations are striking and 
life-like. 

A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, by Charles 
Dickens, with 50 illustrations. Tired of listening to 
his children memorize the twaddle of old fashioned 
English history the author covered the ground in his 
own peculiar and happy style for his own children's 
use. When the work was published its success was 
instantaneous. 

BLACK BEAUTY, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A 
HORSE, by Anna Sewell, with 50 illustrations. A 
work sure to educate boys and girls to treat with kind- 
ness all members of the animal kingdom. Recognized 
as the greatest story of animal life extant. 

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS, 

with 130 illustrations. Contains the most favorably 
known of the stories. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



ALTEMUS' DEVOTIONAL SERIES. 



Standard Religious literature Appropriately Bound in 

Handy Volume Size. Each Volume contains 

Illuminated Title, Portrait of Author 

and Appropriate Illustrations. 



WHITE VELLUM, SILVER AND MONOTINT, 
BOXED, EACH FIFTY CENTS. 



1 KEPT FOR THE MASTER'S USE, by Frances Ridley 

Havergal. " Wili perpetuate her name." 

2 MY KING AND HIS SERVICE, OR DAILY 

THOUGHTS FOR THE KING'S CHILDREN, 

by Frances Ridley Havergal. " Simple, tender, gentle, 
and full of Christian love." 

3 MY POINT OF VIEW. Selections from the works of 

Professor Henry Drummond. 

4 OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, by Themas 

A'Kempis. " With the exception of the Bible it is 
probably the book most read in Christian literature." 

5 ADDRESSES, by Professor Henry Drummond. " Intel- 

ligent sympathy with the Christian's need." 

6 NATURAL DAW IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, 

by Professor Henry Drummond. " A most notable 
book which has earned for the author a world-wide 
reputation." 

7 ADDRESSES, by the Rev. Phillips Brooks. "Has 

exerted a marked influence over the rising generation." 

8 ABIDE IN CHRIST. Thoughts on the Blessed Life of 

Fellowship with the Son of God. By the Rev. Andrew 
Murray. It cannot fail to stimulate and cheer. — 
Spurgeon. 

9 LIKE CHRIST. Thoughts on the Blessed Life ©f Con- 

formity to the Son of God. By the Rev. Andrew 
Murray. A sequel to " Abide in Christ." " May be 
read with comfort and edification by all." 

io WITH CHRIST IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER, 

by the Rev. Andrew Murray. " The best work on 
prayer in the language." 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 

11 HOLY IN CHRIST. Thoughts on the Celling of God's 

Children to be Holy as He is Holy. By the Rev. 
Andrew Murray. " This sacred theme is tteated Scrip- 
turally and robustly without spurious sentimentalism." 

12 THE MANLINESS OF CHRIST, by Thomas Hughes, 

author of" Tom Brown's School Days," etc. "Evi- 
dences of the sublimest courage and manliness in 
the boyhood, ministry, and in the last acts of Christ's 
life." 

13 ADDRESSES TO YOUNG MEN, by the Rev. Henry 

Ward Beecher. Seven Addresses on common vices and 
their results. 

14 THE PATHWAY OF SAFETY, by the Rt. Rev. Ash- 

ton Oxenden, D.D. Sound words of advice and encour- 
agement on the text " What must I do to be saved?" 

15 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, by the Rt. Rev. Ashton 

Oxenden, D. D. A beautiful delineation of an ideal life 
from the conversion to the final reward. 

16 THE THRONE OF GRACE. Before which the bur- 

dened soul may cast itself on the bosom of infinite love 
and enjoy in prayer " a peace which passeth all under- 
standing." 

17 THE PATHWAY OF PROMISE, by the author of 

"The Throne of Grace." Thoughts consolatory and 
encouraging to the Christian pilgrim as he journeys 
onward to his heavenly home. 

18 THE IMPREGNABLE ROCK OF HOLY SCRIP- 

TURE, by the Rt. Hon William Ewart Gladstone, 
M. P. The most masterly defence of the truths of the 
Bible extant. The author says : The Christian Faith 
and the Holy Scriptures arm us with the means of neu- 
tralizing and repelling the assaults of evil in and from 
ourselves. 

19 STEPS INTO THE BLESSED LIFE, by the Rev. F. 

B. Meyer, B. A. A powerful help towards sanctifica- 
tion. 

20 THE MESSAGE OF PEACE, by the Rev. Richard W. 

Church, D. D. Eight excellent sermons on the advent 
of the Babe of Bethlehem and his influence and effect 
on the world. 

21 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK, by the Rev. Charles 

H. Spurgeon. 

22 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES, by the Rev. 

Charles H. Spurgeon. 

23 THE CHANGED CROSS; AND OTHER RE- 

LIGIOUS POEMS. 



ALTEMUS' ETERNAL LIFE SERIES. 



Selections from the writings of well-known religious 

authors, beautifully printed and daintily bound 

with original designs in silver and ink. 

PRICE, 25 CENTS PER VOLUME. 



i ETERNAL LIFE, by Professor Henry Drummond. 

2 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY, by Rev. Andrew Murray. 

3 GOD'S WORD AND GOD'S WORK, by Martin Luther. 

4 FAITH, by Thomas Arnold. 

5 THE CREATION STORY, by Honorable William E. 

Gladstone. 

6 THE MESSAGE OF COMFORT, by Rt. Rev. Ashton 

Oxen den. 

7 THE MESSAGE OF PEACE, by Rev. R. W. Church. 

8 THE LORD'S PRAYER AND THE TEN COM- 

MANDMENTS, by Dean Stanley. 
q THE MEMOIRS OF JESUS, by Rev. Robert F. Horton. 
io HYMNS OF PRAISE AND GLADNESS, by Elisabeth 
R. Scovil. 

11 DIFFICULTIES, by Hannah Whitall Smith. 

12 GAMBLERS AND GAMBLING, by Rev. Henry Ward 

Beecher. 

13 HAVE FAITH IN GOD, by Rev. Andrew Murray. 

14 TWELVE CAUSES OF DISHONESTY, by Rev. Henry 

Ward Beecher. 

15 THE CHRIST IN WHOM CHRISTIANS BELIEVE, 

by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

16 IN MY NAME, by Rev. Andrew Murray. 

17 SIX WARNINGS, by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 

18 THE DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN BUSINESSMAN, 

by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

19 POPULAR AMUSEMENTS, by Rev. Henry Ward 

Beecher. 

20 TRUE LIBERTY, by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

21 INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, by Rev. Henry Ward 

Beecher. 

22 THE BEAUTY OF A LIFE OF SERVICE, by Rt. 

Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

23 THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD, by Rev. A. 

T. Pierson, D D. 

24 THOUGHT AND ACTION, by Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

25 THE HEAVENLY VISION, by Rev. F. B. Meyer. 

26 MORNING STRENGTH, by Elisabeth R. Scovil. 

27 FOR THE QUIET HOUR, by Edith V. Bradt. 

28 EVENING COMFORT, by Elisabeth R. Scovil 

2g WORDS OF HELP FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS, by 
Rev. F. B. Meyer. 

30 HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE, by Rev. Dwight L. 

Moody. 

31 EXPECTATION CORNER, by E. S. Elliot. 

12 JESSICA'S FIRST PRAYER, by Hesba Stratton. 



ALTEMUS' BELLES-LETTRES SERIES. 



A collection of Essays and Addresses by eminent 

English and American Authors, beautifully 

printed and daintily bound, with 

original designs in silver. 



PRICE, 25 CENTS PER VOLUME. 



1 INDEPENDENCE DAY, by Rev. Edward E. Hale. 

2 THE SCHOLAR IN POLITICS, by Hon. Richard Olney. 

3 THE YOUNG MAN IN BUSINESS, by Edward W. Bok. 

4 THE YOUNG MAN AND THE CHURCH, by Edward 

W. Bok. 

5 THE SPOILS SYSTEM, by Hon. Carl Schurz. 

6 CONVERSATION, by Thomas DeQuincey. 

7 SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, by Matthew Arnold. 

8 WORK, by John Ruskin. 

g NATURE AND ART, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

10 THE USE AND MISUSE OF BOOKS, by Frederic 
Harrison. 

ii THE MONROE DOCTRINE: ITS ORIGIN, MEAN- 
ING AND t APPLICATION, by Prof. John Bach 
McMaster (University of Pennsylvania). 

12 THE DESTINY OF MAN, by Sir John Lubbock. 

13 LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

14 RIP VAN WINKLE, by Washington Irving. 

15 ART, POETRY AND MUSIC, by Sir John Lubbock. 

16 THE CHOICE OF BOOKS, by Sir John Lubbock. 

17 MANNERS, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

18 CHARACTER, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

ig THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, by Wash- 
ington Irving. 

20 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE, by Sir John Lubbock. 

21 SELF RELIANCE, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

22 THE DUTY OF HAPPINESS, by Sir John Lubbock. 

23 SPIRITUAL LAWS, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

24 OLD CHRISTMAS, by Washington Irving. 

25 HEALTH. WEALTH AND THE BLESSING OF 

FRIENDS, by Sir John Lubbock. 

26 INTELLECT, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

27 WHY AMERICANS DISLIKE ENGLAND, by Prof. 

Geo. B. Adams (Yale). 

28 THE HIGHER EDUCATION AS A TRAINING FOR 

BUSINESS, by Prof. Harry Pratt Judson (University 
of Chicago). 

29 MISS TOOSEY'S MISSION. 

30 LADDIE. 

31 J. COLE, by Emma Gellibrand. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



ALTEMUS' NEW ILLUSTRATED 
VADEMECUM SERIES. 



Masterpieces of English and American literature, Handy 

Volume Size, Large Type Editions. Each Volume 

Contains Illuminated Title Pages, and Portrait 

of Author and Numerous Engravings 



Full Cloth, ivory finish, ornamental inlaid sides and back, 

boxed 40 

Full White Vellum, full silver and monotint, boxed .... 50 



1 CRANFORD, by Mrs. Gaskell. 

2 A WINDOW IN THRUMS, by J. M. Barrie. 



3 RAB AND HIS FRIENDS, MARJORIE FLEM- 

ING, ETC., by John Brown, M. D. 

4 THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD, by Oliver Goldsmith. 

5 THE IDLE THOUGHTS OF AN IDLE FELLOW, 

by Jerome K. Jerome. " A book for an idle holiday." 

6 TALES FROM SHAKSPEARE, by Charles and Mary 

Lamb, with an introduction by the Rev. Alfred Aingrer. 
M.D. * ' 

7 SESAME AND LILIES, by John Ruskin. 

Three Lectures— I. Of the King's Treasures. II. Of 
Queen's Garden. III. Of the Mystery of Life. 

8 THE ETHICS OF THE DUST, by John Ruskin. Ten 

lectures to little housewives on the elements of crystali- 
zation. 

g THE PLEASURES OF LIFE, by Sir John Lubbock. 
Complete in one volume. 

10 THE SCARLET LETTER, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

11 THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, by 

Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

12 MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE, by Nathaniel 

Hawthorne. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



Altemus' New Illustrated Vademecum Series — 
continued. 



13 TWICE TOLD TALES, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 



14 THE ESSAYS OF FRANCIS (LORD) BACON 

WITH MEMOIRS AND NOTES. 

15 ESSAYS, First Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

16 ESSAYS, Second Series, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

17 REPRESENTATIVE MEN, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

Mental portraits each representing a class. 1. The 
Philosopher. 2. TheMvstic. 3. The Skeptic. 4. The 
Poet. 5. The Man of the World. 6. The Writer. 

18 THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR MARCUS 

AURELIUS ANTONINUS, translated by George 
Long. 

19 THE DISCOURSES OF EPICTETUS WITH THE 

ENCHIRIDION, translated by George Long. 



20 OF THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, by Thomas 

A^Kempis. Four books complete in one volume. 

21 ADDRESSES, by Professor Henry Drummond. The 

Greatest Thing in the World ; Pax Vobiscum ; The 
Changed Life ; How to Learn How ; Dealing With 
Doubt ; Preparation for Learning ; What is a Chris- 
tian; The Study of the Bible ; A Talk on Books. 

22 LETTERS, SENTENCES AND MAXIMS, by Lord 

Chesterfield. Masterpieces of good taste, good writing 
and good sense. 

23 REVERIES OF A BACHELOR. A book of the 

heart. By Ik Marvel. 

24 DREAM LIFE, by Ik Marvel. A companion to " Reve- 

ries of a Bachelor." 

25 SARTOR RESARTUS, by Thomas Carlyle. 

26 HEROES AND HERO WORSHIP, by Thomas Car- 

lyle. 

27 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

28 ESSAYS OF ELIA, by Charles Lamb. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



Altemus' New Illustrated Vademecum Series — 
continued. 



29 MY POINT OF VIEW. Representative selections from 

the works of Professor Henry Drummond by William 
Shepard. 

30 THE SKETCH BOOK, by Washington Irving. Com- 

plete. 

31 KEPT FOR THE MASTER'S USE, by Frances 

Ridley Havergal. 

32 LUCILE, by Owen Meredith. 

33 LALLA ROOKH, by Thomas Moore. 

34 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, by Sir Walter Scott. 

35 MARMION, by Sir Walter Scott. 

36 THE PRINCESS ; AND MAUD, by Alfred (Lord) 

Tennyson. 

37 CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, by Lord 

Byron. 

38 IDYLLS OF THE KING, by Alfred (Lord) Tennyson. 

39 EVANGELINE, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

40 VOICES OF THE NIGHT AND OTHER POEMS, 

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

41 THE QUEEN OF THE AIR, by John Ruskin. A 

study of the Greek myths of cloud and storm. 

42 THE BELFRY OF BRUGES AND OTHER 

POEMS, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



43 POEMS, Volume I, by John Greenleaf Whittier. 

44 POEMS, Volume II, by John Greenleaf Whittier. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



Altemus' New Illustrated Vademecum Series — 
continued. 



45 THE RAVEN; AND OTHER POEMS, by Edgar 

Allan Poe. 

46 THANATOPSIS;AND OTHER POEMS, by William 

Cullen Bryant. 

47 THE LAST LEAF;AND OTHER POEMS, by Oliver 

Wendell Holmes. 

48 THE HEROES OR GREEK FAIRY TALES, by 

Charles Kingsley. 

4g A WONDER BOOK, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 



50 UNDINE, by de La Motte Fouque. 

51 ADDRESSES, by the Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

52 BALZAC'S SHORTER STORIES, by Honore de 

Balzac. 

53 TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST, by Richard 

H. Dana, Jr. 

54 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. An Autobiography. 

55 THE LAST ESSAYS OF ELIA, by Charles Lamb. 

56 TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS, by Thomas 

Hughes. 

57 WEIRD TALES, by Edgar Allan Poe. 

58 THE CROWN OF WILD OLIVE, by John Ruskin. 

Three lectures on Work, Traffic and War. 

5g NATURAL LAW IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, 

by Professor Henry Drummond. 

60 ABBE CONSTANTIN, by Ludovic Halevy. 

61 MANON LESCAUT, by Abfee Prevost. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



Altemus' New Illustrated Vademecum Series- 
continued. 



62 THE ROMANCE OF A POOR YOUNG MAN, by 

Octave Feuillet. 

63 BLACK BEAUTY, by Anna Sewell. 

64 CAMILLE, by Alexander Dumas, Jr. 

65 THE LIGHT OF ASIA, by Sir Edwin Arnold. 

66 THE LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME, by Thomas 

Babington Macaulay. 

67 THE CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM- 

EATER, by Thomas De Quincey. 

68 TREASURE ISLAND, by Robert L. Stevenson. 

69 CARMEN, by Prosper Merimee. 

70 A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, by Laurence Sterne. 

71 THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE, by Nathaniel 

Hawthorne. 

72 BAB BALLADS, AND SAVOY SONGS, by W. H. 

Gilbert. 

73 FANCHON, THE CRICKET, by George Sand. 

74 POEMS, by James Russell Lowell. 

75 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK, by the Rev. Charles 

H. Spurgeon. 

76 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S PICTURES, by the Rev. 

Charles H. Spurgeon. 

77 THE MANLINESS OF CHRIST, by Thomas 

Hughes. 

78 ADDRESSES TO YOUNG MEN, by the Rev. Henry 

Ward Beecher. 

79 THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST 

TABLE, by Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



HENRY ALTEMUS' PUBLICATIONS. 



Altemus' New Illustrated Vademecum Series- 
continued. 



MULVANEY STORIES, by Rudyard Kipling. 
BALLADS, by Rudyard Kipling. 

MORNING THOUGHTS, by Frances Ridley Havergal. 
TEN NIGHTS IN A BAR ROOM, by T. S. Arthur. 
EVENING THOUGHTS, by Frances Ridley Havergal. 
IN MEMORIAM, by Alfred (Lord) Tennyson. 
COMING TO CHRIST, by Frances Ridley Havergal. 
HOUSE OF THE WOLF, by Stanley Weyman. 



AMERICAN POLITICS (non-Partisan), by Hon. Thomas 
V. Cooper. A history of all the Political Parties with their 
views and records on all important questions. All political 
platforms from the beginning to date. Great Speeches on 
Great issues. Parliamentary Practice and tabulated history 
of chronological events. A library without this work is de- 
ficient. 8vo., 750 pages. Cloth, $3.00. Full Sheep Library 
style, $4.00. 

NAMES FOR CHILDREN, by Elisabeth Robinson Scovil, 
author of " The Care of Children," " Preparation for 
Motherhood." In family life there is no question of greater 
weight or importance than naming the baby. The author 
gives much good advice and many suggestions on the sub- 
ject. Cloth, i2mo., $ .40. 

TRIF AND TRIXY, by John Habberton, author of "Helen's 
Babies." The story is replete with vivid and spirited 
scenes; and is incomparably the happiest and most de- 
lightful work Mr. Habberton has yet written. Cloth, 
i2mo., $ .35. 



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